FRUIT-BUD FORMATION 53 



substance, and so on. He cites some interesting experiments 

 with the begonia. " In May, Sachs made cuttings of begonia 

 in the usual way, and found that the plants springing from 

 such leaf cuttings gave rise to flowers in the beginning of 

 November, preceded by a luxuriant formation of foliage 

 leaves. If, however, the leaf cuttings are taken from a 

 flowering specimen in the end of July, flowers appear on 

 them in the end of September, but few leaves are previously 

 formed," Other cases of a similar nature can be cited 

 which led Sachs to announce that the plant which was 

 about to bloom contained special flower-forming materials 

 and hence that cuttings taken from a specimen in such 

 condition would soon flower, regardless of the environ- 

 ment. 



Jost,^ objects to the theory, however, and writes, ''This 

 hypothesis very conveniently explains anomalies and 

 regeneration phenomena, and this has won it a certain 

 amount of acceptance. Closer examination shows, however, 

 that the difficulties are not thereby removed, but only 

 shifted elsewhere. " 



50. Reserve food. — The accumulation of reserve food 

 materials within the tissues of the plant has been commonly 

 accepted as the cause of fruit-bud formation. Both bo- 

 tanical and horticultural literature abound in statements 

 to this effect. Sorauer - says, "Plants will only develop 

 flowering buds when the food material formed in the leaves 

 is copiously stored up in the stem and branches as reserve 

 material and not when this material is immediately used 

 up in the production of new vegetative organs (leaves). 

 Of our apple trees it is well known that in warm insular cli- 

 mates they grow into magnificent foliage trees, but they 



1 Adapted from Jost, L., Ibid, pp. 349, 364. 



2 Sorauer, P. A Treatise on the Physiology of Plants. (Eng. Trans.) 

 p. 222. 



