274 Practical Orcharding On Rough Lands. 



a young shoot. This growth may not be very 

 long. Its length will depend upon the vigor 

 of the tree, strength of the land, cultivation, 

 size of crop, etc. Then we should remember 

 that the fruit bud of the apple is borne on the 

 end of the branch. As the season advances, 

 and while the fruit is growing this branch at- 

 tempts to lengthen by pushing out a shoot from 

 the place where the apple is borne. The mis- 

 sion of this twig will be to form a terminal 

 bud which, if the vitality of the tree and other 

 conditions are favorable, will become the fruit 

 bud for the coming season. If the careless pick- 

 ers in gathering the apples also break off this 

 little shoot, they remove all possible chance for 

 that twig to produce fruit the next year. It 

 must spend next season in growing another 

 twig and forming a terminal bud which may 

 be a fruit bud, thus losing a season's work. We 

 should be careful then when picking our ap- 

 ples not to pick two crops at once, and that is 

 what has happened when the packing table is 

 covered with those twigs. 



We may avoid much of this trouble by hold- 

 ing to the limb with one hand and passing our 

 finger or thumb over the fruit and dislodging 

 it with a slight pressure on the stem, rather 

 than simply to pull down on the fruit until it 



