70 



Fruit-growing in Arid Regions 



a flower-bud. The continued repetition of flower-bud 

 formation and the consequent development of lateral 

 buds, together with slow growth, gives 

 the peculiar crooked appearance to the 

 fruit-spurs of apple and of pear trees. 

 It has often been said that the large 

 scars on fruit-spurs mark the place 

 where a fruit was borne. One can only 

 be sure that this is true when several 

 smaller scars surround the larger one, 

 thus showing that a blossom-cluster 

 actually existed at the point. Short 

 branches which have borne flowers very 

 often die back to the main spur, thus 

 producing a scar which is evidently 

 often mistaken for those which are 

 produced where fruits were attached. 

 This is well shown in the case of both 

 the apple and the pear in Figure 8, 

 which is from a photograph. 



All of the branch-buds are alike in 

 the beginning, but because of less ad- 

 vantageous position as regards light 

 and food-supply some of them make 

 little growth. Some of these restricted 

 branches become fruit-spurs, and con- 

 sequently we must conclude that slow 

 growth is conducive to fruitfulness. 

 branch has become a fruit-spur, it usually 

 retains this character, and some of them may be many 

 years old and yet be only a few inches long. Never - 



13. Axillary 



Flower Clusters of 

 Duchess Pear. 



Once 



