54 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF PRUNING 



are wood buds the direction of growth is practically 

 straight, but when they are blossom buds or when the 

 terminal wood bud or shoot is destroyed accidentally or 

 purposely, an axillary bud will develop a shoot which will 

 depart more or less from the straight line. (Fig. 67.) 

 This is especially characteristic of apple and pear spurs, 

 which in many varieties become greatly contorted. 



58. Fruit spurs and buds. — An examination of twigs 

 two seasons old of, say, apple and gooseberry, will show 

 how axillary buds often develop, 1, into twigs as already 

 noted (50) and, 2, into tiny spurs terminated by blossom 

 or cluster buds (Fig. 29). Often these latter are so short 

 as to be mistaken for true buds instead of bud-terminated 

 spurs. When these buds swell, they may develop several 

 to many leaves or flowers or both. When they do not 

 produce flowers, a terminal bud may be formed during 

 "this season" for the extension of the twig "next season" ; 

 and when flowers develop into one or more fruits, a 

 branch bud may be formed in the axil of a leaf to extend 

 the twig more or less laterally "next season." In this 

 last case the twig may grow for several seasons in the di- 

 rection thus taken ; that is, until it develops a terminal 

 cluster bud and thus makes a change of direction nec- 

 essar)^. 



59. Meaning of scars on fruit spurs. — When fruit 

 reaches maturity it leaves a scar at the point of its attach- 

 ment to the fruit spur or twig. It is often said that such 

 scars indicate the number of fruits borne by the spurs, 

 but this is not always true, because frequently short 

 twigs, which at some previous time bore flowers, may 

 kill back to the main fruit spur, and when they fall off 

 leave scars like those left by fruits that matured. The 

 only way to be sure is to note whether or not the scars 

 are solitary or in clusters. Where solitary they have 

 proljably been formed by twigs ; where in clusters, by 

 flowers or more or less mature fruits surrounding the 

 scar of a fruit that reached maturity. 



