A BIT OF HISTORY 77 



Upon the growth of 1894 — D to E — only three spurs have 

 developed, Nos. 24, 25, 26. These started out in 1895, and two 

 of them — 25 and 26 — have made large, thick buds, which are 

 evidently fruit-buds. The shoot at Gr grew on to E E, and all 

 the buds on its lower two-year-old portion remained dormant. 



On the 1895 growth — from E to 28 — all the buds remained 

 dormant except one, and this one — 27 — made only a very feeble 

 attempt to grow into a spur. 



The buds upon the 1892 growth — 1 to 12 — are still dormant 

 and waiting for an opportunity to grow. 



80. What an eventful history this apple twig 

 has had ! And yet in all the seven years of 

 its life, after having made fifteen efforts to bear 

 fruit, it has not produced one good apple ! 

 The fault, therefore, does not lie in the shoot. 

 It has done the best it could. The trouble has 

 been that the farmer did not give the tree enough 

 food to enable it to support the fruits, or he 

 did not prune the tree so as to give the twig 

 light and room, or he allowed apple-scab or 

 some other disease to kill the young apples as 

 they were forming. We may question, therefore, 

 when trees fail to bear, whether it is not quite 

 as often the fault of the farmer as the trees. 



