118 



B 



Fruit buds are distinguished from leaf buds by their rounder 

 and fuller form, the scales that cover them are broader, and they 

 begin to swell and burst open earlier in the Spring. 



Fruit buds are also single, as in the case of apples, pears, 

 quinces, or single, double and triple, as in stone fruits and berries. 

 They are, besides, simple or compound ; that is to say they produce 

 but one flower, as in the peach, nectarine, almond, and apricot, or 

 two or more flowers, in clusters, as in apples, pears, plums, and 

 cherries. 



All buds are leaf buds when first formed ; 

 some at a later stage develop, either by 

 being allowed to mature naturally or by 

 artificial means, into fruit buds. Many trees 

 develop their fruit buds towards their terminal 

 shoots, unless these are cut off, when those 

 left at the base of the branch, or along it, 

 are thus excited into growth, and transformed 

 into lateral fruit buds. 



When cutting to a bud a slight slant is 

 generally given to the cut, at a place close to 

 the bud, although in so doing it is advisable 

 not to approach the bud too closely, nor on 

 the other hand leave above it a useless stump, 

 which might engender decay ; a piece of wood 

 about an eighth of an inch above the bud is 

 sufficient to leave. In the case of the grape 

 vine the practice is often to cut through the 

 joint, above the last bud it is intended to leave 

 on the spur, as shown at 02. A longitudinal 

 section of the young wood of a vine shows in 

 each joint a tubular cavity filled with pith ; 

 at each joint or node that tube is closed, as in 

 the case of the bamboo, and if the section 



and Pith. below is at times endangered. The section 



should be made either at C or at 2 as shown 011 the fig., and never 

 at Ci. The buds B are those left on the spur. D is an axillary 

 bud which often fails to shoot. E is a piece of the previous season's 

 wood. 



WHEN BEST TO PRUNE. 



For the winter pruning of deciduous trees, May, June, July, 

 and August are the best months. Pruning may be started directly 

 the wood is ripe, when the leaves fade and begin to drop off. It is 

 recommended to give to apricots and cherries a preliminary pruning 

 in the late summer, after the crop has been gathered. Trees thus 

 pruned are less subject to gumming and dying back, and the leaf 

 buds have thus more time to transform into fruit buds, and to- 

 perfect themselves. 



