74 Fruit-growing in Arid Regions 



respects with what has been published, and one of us 

 (Mr. Whipple) made a study of the subject. These 

 observations on bud characters and bearing habits of 

 the stone-fruits are given below. 



The branch-buds of the peach, apricot, plum, and cherry 

 differ little from those of the apple and pear. With the 

 apricots and many of the plums, true terminal buds are 

 rarely developed, while the lateral branch-buds of at least 

 the first three may share their position in the axils of 

 the leaves with one or more fruit-buds. In the peach, 

 however, such a group of buds is generally developed in 

 the axils of a cluster of three leaves. When the terminal 

 bud is absent and the last lateral bud is a branch-bud, it 

 continues the growth of the branch the following season, 

 and, while the line of demarcation of each succeeding year's 

 growth (as shown by the scars of the bud-scales) is not 

 as pronounced as in twigs with terminal branch-buds, 

 the continuation of the growth in a straight line is just 

 as perfect. Quite often this last lateral bud is a fruit- 

 bud, and later such twigs generally die back to a lateral 

 branch developed from the last branch-bud. 



The fruit-buds of the peach, apricot, plum, and cherry 

 differ from those of the apple and pear in that they are 

 simple buds (each contains in miniature a modified branch 

 which carries only flowers, no leaves, or at most only 

 rudiments of leaves), while the apple and pear have mixed 

 fruit-buds. As the fruit-buds of the cherry and plum 

 open, they often show one or two small leaves which rarely 

 persist during the full season of fruit formation. The 

 fruit-bud of the peach and apricot normally carries a 

 single flower, sometimes two; that of the cherry from one 



