STEMS. 



41 



This arrangement will not usually be perfectly carried out, 

 since some of the buds may never grow, or some may grow 

 much faster than others and so make the plan of branching 

 less evident than it would be if all grew alike. 



62. Alternate Branching. — In trees like the beech the 

 twigs will be found to be arranged in a more or less regular 

 spiral line about the branch. This, which 

 is known as the alternate arrangement 

 (Fig. 25), is more commonly met with in 

 trees and shrubs than the opiiosite arrange- 

 ment. It admits of many varieties, since 

 the spiral may wind more or less rapidly 

 round the stem. In the apple, pear, 

 cherry, poplar, oak, and walnut, one 

 passes over five spaces before coming to a 

 leaf which is over the first, and in doing 

 this it is necessary to make two complete 

 turns round the stem. Fig. 77. 



63. Growth of the Terminal Bud. — 

 In some trees the terminal bud from the 

 very outset keeps the leading place, and 

 the result of this mode of growth is to 

 produce a slender, upright tree, with an 

 excurrent trunk like that of Fig. 26, II. 



In such trees as the apple and many 

 oaks the terminal bud has no preemi- 

 nence over others, and the form of the fig. 25.— Alternate Branch- 

 tree is round-topped and spreading, deli- mg ma very Young Apple 



qiiescent like Fig. 26, I. 



Most of the larger forest trees are intermediate between 

 these extremes, like Fig. 27. 



\!hlcb Miss XeireU suggests. U the supply of material is abundant, the tings 

 employed in the lessons above described need not be used further, but if material 

 is scanty, the study of buds may at once be taken up. 



