In April Weather 61 
centre with one, or, it may be, two smaller ones 
on either side. 
These are understudies, as it were, to the mid- 
dle bud, ready to take up its work in the world 
if it be killed or disabled. Normally it grows and 
they remain quiescent. But it may be that one of 
the side buds is the strongest of the group and 
lives down all its fellows. It is a question of 
survival of the fittest. 
The common locust has several ‘‘ accessory 
buds’’ under the leaf-stalk, and a principal bud in 
the scar left by the leaf of last summer. This 
axillary bud may be overtaken in growth by the 
strongest one in the group below it, so that in 
years to come the tree will have two branches 
almost together. 
In the poplar, elm, and willow extra buds are 
potentially present in the bark, and will develop in 
numbers if the tree is maimed. Such buds and 
growths are called ‘‘ adventitious,’’ and have no 
relation whatever to the ordinary position of the 
leaves. Those of the elm sometimes appear on 
the trunk in dense tufts of whip-like branches. 
The basket-makers turn the willow’s ability to 
produce adventitious buds to excellent account. 
They cut off the crown of the tree, and the ends 
