ADVENTITIOUS BUDS 85 



never enveloped in protecting scales : they are naked 

 buds. As soon as they appear they elongate, unfold 

 their leaves, and become branches taking part in 

 the work of the whole. Very soon, in the axils of 

 their leaves, other buds make their appearance and 

 behave like their predecessors; that is to say, they 

 develop quickly into branches which in their turn 

 produce other buds. And so on indefinitely until 

 winter puts a stop to this scaffold of branches and 

 kills the whole plant. Thus annuals ramify rapidly. 

 In one year they produce several generations of 

 branches implanted one on another, sometimes more, 

 sometimes fewer, according to their species and their 

 degree of vigor. Their buds, designed for imme- 

 diate development, are always naked. On the con- 

 trary, those forms of vegetation that have a long 

 life, such as trees, ramify slowly; they have only 

 one generation of branches a year, and their buds, 

 destined to live through the winter, are scaly. 



"Certain examples of plant-life have both kinds 

 of buds. Such, for instance, are the peach-tree and 

 the grape-vine. At the end of winter the vine-shoot 

 bears scaly buds lined with flock, and the peach 

 branches scaly buds coated with varnish. Both be- 

 long to the class of dormant buds : they have slept 

 all winter in their sheaths of fur and 'Scales. In the 

 spring they develop into branches according to the 

 general rule; but at the same time there appear in 

 the axils of the leaves other buds without any pro- 

 tecting covering, and these develop immediately into 

 branches. Thus the grape-vine and the peach-tree 



