TBE OPENING OF THE BUDS 



45 



and only eleven were borne all summer long on 

 the annual growth in Fig. 2. The fact is that 

 there are as many leaves packed away in the bud 

 (as a rule) as there will 

 be leaves on next year's 

 shoot. 



42. Another most curi- 

 ous fact about these open- 

 ing buds is that the low- 

 est leaves are smaller 

 than the middle ones. 

 The full size of the 

 enfolded leaves cannot 

 yet be made out. Let 

 the pupil see to what 

 size they will attain. It 

 is enough to know that 

 the lowest are smallest 

 and presumably weakest ; 

 and Fig. 2 shows that 

 they are borne closer 

 together. We have also seen, in all our speci- 

 mens, that very few good buds are borne at 

 the base of the annual growth (compare Fig. 35). 

 We suspect, therefore, that not only the number 

 of leaves, but the character of the forthcom- 

 ing buds, is very largely determined before- 

 hand. 



Opening buds of a crab-apple. 



