Winter -killing of Buds. 



317 



open and appear to be perfectly normal to the un- 

 critical observer. The latter case is common in 

 peaches and apricots. Fig. 49 illustrates the point. 

 The flower at the right was unin- 

 jured by the winter, and the pistil 

 is seen, grown full length, at 1. 

 In the other flower, the pistil, at 

 2, is dead. We know that this 

 pistil was killed before the bud be- 

 gan to swell, because it retains the 

 small size which it must have 

 had in the dormant bud. If it 

 had been killed after the bud had Fig. 49. Normal apricot flower 

 swollen, it would have appeared j^^o? wtS. ' 

 as a much larger and a more 

 or less crumpled or withered organ, as in 6, Fig. 

 52, page 320. 



A true fruit -bud is one in which the flower, or 

 cluster of flowers, is present in miniature. (See 



"The Pruning -Book" 

 for full discussion 

 of fruit -buds.) This 

 flower occupies the 

 very center of the 

 bud, and is sur- 

 rounded by dense lay- 

 ers of scales. A 

 healthy bud is nor- 

 mally green in the central part in cross -section. 

 When the bud has been killed by the winter, in 

 the usual manner, this central portion of the 



a 6 c 



Fig. 50. Apricot buds, a, alive : b and c, 



killed by winter. Enlarged. 



