The Story -Book of the Fields 



easy to notice the difference in size between 

 one shoot and the next. 



Whether terminal or axillary, shoots are 

 divided into two classes. As they develop 

 some grow long and are covered only with 

 leaves : these are called leaf shoots and 

 finally become branches. Others remain 

 short and only produce flowers, or flowers and 

 leaves in conjunction. These are flower 

 shoots or buds. It is very easy to distinguish 

 them on our fruit trees ; the leaf shoots being 

 long and pointed, while the flower shoots are 

 rounded and larger. 



All through the summer the shoots are 

 growing in the axils of the leaves, and acquiring 

 strength to endure the winter. The cold 

 weather comes and the leaves fall, but the 

 shoots keep their place, firmly fixed in a fold 

 of the bark, just above the scar left by the 

 fall of the leaf. To resist the onslaught of 

 cold and damp, which would be fatal, a 

 winter garment is indispensable. This will 

 consist on the inside of down and on the out- 

 side of a strong case of polished scales. If 

 we examine the shoot of the chestnut we 

 shall find inside a kind of down swathing the 

 little tender leaves, and outside a solid 

 armour of scales arranged as regularly as the 



66 



