BUDS 



57 



as many an orchardist will shamefacedly admit, there 

 will be little or no fruit for one to several years. 



61. Pome fruit bud positions vary. — Most commonly 

 apples and pears bear their cluster buds terminally on 

 gnarly little twigs 

 called fruit spurs 

 (Fig. 34). When 

 these buds expand, 

 they show perhaps 

 half a dozen to a 

 dozen leaves sur- 

 rounding maybe as 

 many flowers. Usu- 

 ally not more than 

 one, or possibly 

 two, of these blos- 

 soms develops into 

 a mature fruit (Fig. 

 35). The others 

 drop off. The fruit- 

 ripening process is 

 apparently an ex- 

 haustive one, for 

 the spur which ma- 

 tures a fruit "this 

 season" will usually 

 not develop one 

 "next year." While 

 the fruit is ripen- 

 ing, a branch bud is 

 developing near the 

 fruit-stem attach- 

 ment to the spur. 

 This branch bud 

 swells the following season into a short growth termi- 

 nated by a cluster bud. Thus fruit spurs theoretically 



FIG. 36— BLOOMING TWIG OF APPLE 

 Variations such as these are not uncommon. Note 

 that the cluster buds are mainly on short spurs 

 (below) ; that in the center a fruit has evidently 

 been borne and other fruit spurs ha\'e developed 

 from the sides of this spur; also that one of the 

 buds has de\'eloped a short branch with a terminal 

 cluster bud. 



