CHAPTER XIV 



THE FLOWERING OF APPLE TREES 

 (Report XII, 35) * 



ONE of the plantations at the Woburn farm, which consisted 

 of apple trees of 117 different varieties, was utilised during the 

 years 1905 to 1909, inclusive, for obtaining information -on points 

 connected with the order in which different varieties blossom. 

 The trees were from eight to thirteen years old during the observa- 

 tions, and were all bush trees, four in each case being on the crab 

 stock, and four on the paradise. 



The date of blossoming was taken to be that on which any of 

 the blossoms on the trees in question first became fully expanded. 

 These dates for the earliest blossoming varieties were 



In 1905, April 29 

 ,, 1906, 30 



1907. 2 7 

 ,, 1908, May 10 

 ,, 1909, April 28 



There was found to be so little difference between the dates of 

 blossoming of the same variety on the crab and paradise stocks, 

 that a separate analysis of the results in the two cases was super- 

 fluous : in 49 per cent, of the cases the difference was nil, whilst 

 in 36 per cent, the paradise were the earlier, in the remaining 

 15 per cent., the crab. Where any difference existed, it was 

 generally a matter of only one day, the maximum difference 

 observed being four days. 



In comparing the general results for different seasons, the start- 

 ing point taken for each year was the earliest date of blossoming 

 of any variety in that year : thus, if a certain variety was entered 

 a.s blossoming on the tenth day, it meant that it blossomed nine 

 days later than the variety which blossomed earliest in the 

 same season. 



1 Other observations on this subject have been collected by C. Hooper 

 (Journ. Board of Agric., 1908, 678; 1910, 32; Journ. Roy. Hort. Soc., 

 xxxvi, 559). 



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