82 PRINCIPLES OF PLANT CULTURE 



plum, a flower-bud is normally formed on each side 

 of the leaf-bud in the young shoots of bearing trees 

 (Fig. 38). In the apple and pear, the flower-buds are 

 less definitely located, but are mostly formed on the 

 short, thick, wrinkled and crooked branches from wood 

 three or four years old (fruit spurs, Figs. 42 and 43). 

 In some fruits, as the apple, cherry and peach, the flower- 

 buds are usually thicker and more rounded than the leaf- 

 buds, especially toward spring. Close and persistent 

 observation will enable the horticulturist early to dis- 

 tinguish the flower-buds in many of his perennial plants. 



In the apple and pear, the buds on the so-called fruit- 

 spurs are not necessarily flower-buds, but some seasons 

 all are leaf-buds. How early in the life of a bud its 

 character is fixed, or if flower-buds ever change to leaf- 

 buds before expanding, does not appear to be known. 

 The fact that leafy shoots sometimes grow out of the 

 center of flowers, and that petals (142) are sometimes 

 developed as leaves, suggest that such change may 

 occur. 



In the grape, flowers appear at the first two, three or 

 four nodes of the young shoots that grow from stems 

 formed the preceding season (canes) and the shoot con- 

 tinues to grow beyond the flowers. The raspberry, 

 blackberry and dewberry bloom like the grape, except 

 that the shoots terminate in a flower. In the straw- 

 berry, the terminal bud of the preceding year's growth 

 flowers in early spring. In these plants, therefore, the 

 flower-buds are inclosed by the same bud scale that 

 incloses the leaf-buds, hence, it is more difficult to foresee 

 the number of flowers than in the tree fruits. A knowl- 

 edge of the location of the flower-buds is very important 

 in pruning plants grown for their flowers or fruits (416). 



