BUDS 



57 



as many an orchardist will shamefacedly admit, there 

 will be little or no fruit for one to several years. 



61. Pome fruit bud positions vary. Most commonly 

 apples and pears bear their cluster buds terminally on 

 gnarly little twigs 

 called fruit spurs 

 (Fig. 34). When 

 these buds expand, 

 they show perhaps 

 half a dozen to a 

 dozen leaves sur- 

 rounding maybe as 

 many flowers. Usu- 

 ally not more than 

 one, or possibly 

 two, of these blos- 

 soms develops into 

 a mature fruit (Fig. 

 35). The others 

 drop off. The fruit- 

 ripening process is 

 apparently an ex- 

 haustive one, for 

 the spur which ma- 

 tures a fruit "this 

 season" will usually 

 not develop one 

 "next year." While 

 the fruit is ripen- 

 ing, a branch bud is 

 developing near the 

 fruit-stem attach- 

 ment to the spur. 

 This branch bud 

 swells the following season into a short growth termi- 

 nated by a cluster bud. Thus fruit spurs theoretically 



FIG. 36 BLOOMING TWIG OF APPLE 

 Variations such as these are not uncommon. Note 

 that the cluster buds are mainly on short spurs 

 (below) ; that in the center a fruit has evidently 

 been borne and other fruit spurs have developed 

 from the sides of this spur; also that one of the 

 buds has developed a short branch with a terminal 

 cluster bud. 





