16 THE APPLE-TREE 



them, will probably give rise to short fruiting spurs and 

 the others to elongated leafy branches. 



Before me as I write is an apple limb more than three 

 feet long. It has been a vigorous grower, for it is only 

 three years old. The years can be readily made out; 

 there are two sets of "rings" separating them. You may 

 see these rings on all young apple limbs. They represent 

 the scars of the scales of the past terminal buds. 



Three years ago my shoot was sent off from its parent 

 branch ; that year it grew but four inches, bearing leaves 

 on its sides, in the axils of which developed buds for the 

 winter and at the end a larger terminal bud. Let us call 

 this shoot 1918. Two years ago (1919), whilst I was in 

 a distant land, the terminal bud gave rise to a shoot nine- 

 teen inches long; two buds near the end of the 1918 shoot 

 pushed out clusters of leaves and made spurs about one- 

 half inch long; all the other buds, five in number, re- 

 mained dormant, and now they are dead and are rapidly 

 becoming mere scars. Last year (1920) the terminal bud 

 of 1919 gave rise to a shoot fifteen inches long; three 

 buds at the base of this two-year (1919) shoot remained 

 dormant; fourteen buds produced spurs. It is now the 

 spring of 1921 ; the 1920 shoot has four dormant buds at 

 its base, ten rosettes of leaves from the other buds, and 

 a pushing terminal shoot. 



On my branch this year, therefore, are 5 plus 3 plus 4, 

 or 12 dormant buds of all the years ; 2 plus 14 plus 10, or 

 26 spurs ; 1 terminal bud continuing the onward growth. 



It is evident that the last two years were good ones 

 for my apple limb, for the growths were long (19 and 

 15 inches) and most of the buds produced spurs. The 

 result is evidenced also in the fact that the limb is this 



