52 FRUIT FARMING 



these, however, may take one of two courses. If the 

 supply of sap be plentiful they will develop into 

 moderate shoots. If, on the other hand, the supply 

 be inadequate, each bud will produce a rosette of five 

 leaves which will nourish a fruit bud in their midst 

 exactly as did the terminal bud of last season, and 

 this bud will of course produce fruit the next season. 



If pruning is done in the winter, the results of 

 cutting to the different buds will naturally vary greatly. 

 When the shoot is cut down to the dormant buds at 

 the base the result is that the roots being capable of 

 supplying the entire shoot with sap will concentrate 

 on one or two buds the amount intended for the whole 

 shoot. These buds, thus stimulated, will commence 

 a very strong growth, and this is of course the reason 

 that hard pruning encourages strong growth. 



If the branch is cut down to a fruit bud the result 

 will be that these will develop into spurs, a develop- 

 ment which we will briefly consider. A spur is a 

 dwarf branch. If we imagine that the spaces between 

 the leaves on a normal shoot were elastic and that it 

 were possible to extend or close the shoot like a 

 telescope, we shall see how this applies. When 

 extended on the branch, the leaves are, let us say, 

 one inch apart. When we push in the branch the 

 leaves will naturally be quite close together and have 

 an appearance exactly similar to that of a spur, the 

 terminal fruit bud having its rosette of leaves. The 

 spur is then an unextended branch, and the rugged 

 appearance of its bark is merely due to the leaf scars 

 being quite close together. Each of these leaves will 

 produce in their axils a small bud which will, according 

 to circumstances, remain dormant, or in time develop 



