14 



GENERAL PEIXCIPLES. 



Fig. 18. 



The fruit brandies of the quince and . the 

 medlar are slender twigs on the sides of 

 lateral branches, and the fruit is borne on 

 their points. 



Section 4. — ^Buds. 



1st. TTie Natv/re 

 and Functions of 

 Buds. — In a prac- 

 tical point of view, 

 buds are certainly 

 the most important 

 organs of trees, be- 

 cause it is through 

 them we are en- 

 abled completely to 

 direct and control 

 their forms and 



Fig. 17 



Fig. 17, branch of the plum ; ^, two-year-old ^J^g^p productivCneSS. 

 wood ; B, one year old ; C and D, spurs. Fig. 18, ^ r p 



fruit spur of the plum on the old wood. Whoever, therefore, 



wishes to become a 

 skilful and successful tree cultm-ist, must not fail to 

 make himself familiar with all theii' forms, modifications, 

 modes of development, and the purposes they are adapted 

 to fulfil in the formation of the tree and its products. The 

 immediate causes of the production of buds on the growing 

 shoots of trees, and the sources from which they spring or 

 in which they originate, are alike thus far mysterious, 

 notwithstanding they have been the subject of a vast deal 

 of research and speculation among botanists and vegetable 

 physiologists for many ages. "We are able, however, to 

 trace clearly and satisfactorily the objects they are 



