CHAPTER III 

 THE DIFFERENTIATION OF FLOWER-BUDS 



Before studying the factors that influence the formation 

 of flovver-butls in fruit-trees, the morphological changes which 

 take place in bud formation from the earliest stages to com- 

 pletion should be well understood. This has been worked 

 over by several horticulturists^ and descriptions of the stages 

 of development are available for the apple, pear, peach, plum, 

 cheriy, and some other fruits. 



It has long been recognized that in the deciduous tree- 

 fruits, generally, the flower-buds are more or less well devel- 

 oped the season previous to their unfolding, although the 

 details of their formation have been worked out but recently. 

 As late as 1899, Goff wrote, "no systematic investigation 

 seems to have before been made that gives us any definite 

 knowledge as to the time when the development of the 

 flowers actually begins, the rate at which it progresses, or 

 the period through which it continues, in any of our fruit 

 bearing plants." 



The broader details of the differentiation and develop- 

 ment of the various floral structures and organs have been 

 carefully outlined for the apple. The course of development 

 is similar for the pear, and is broadly the same for the drupa- 

 ceous tree-fruits, except that in the latter the receptacle, or 



1 Goff, E. S. 17th and 18th Ann. Rept. Wis. Agr. Exp. Sta. 1899- 

 1900. Waldron, L. R. N. D. Agr. Exp. Sta. Rept. 10: 31-39. 1899. 

 Quaintance, A. L. Ga. Agr. Exp. Sta. Rept. 13: 349-351. 1900. 

 Drinkard, A. W. Ann. Rept. Va. Poly. Inst. 1909 and 1910. Kraus, 

 E. J. Ore. Agr. Exp. Sta. Res. Bull. 1. part 1. 1913. Bradford, F. C. 

 Ore. Agr. Exp. Sta. Res. Bull. 1. part 2. 1915. 

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