POMOLOGY AS A STUDY. 



147 



tracing the development of fruits from the bud stage, pointing out in 

 passing the problems and difficulties which require solution or removal : 



1. Flower-bud formation ; controlling influences. 



2. Problems in fertilisation and sterility. 



3. The development of fruits. 



4. Fruit characters and description. 



5. Systems of classification. 



1. Floiver-bud Formation ; Controlling Influences. — We regard the 

 flower-bud as the first chapter in the life-history of a fruit, just as we 

 look upon a seed, a cutting, or a scion as the commencement of the life- 

 history of a plant or tree, though it is obvious that to obtain a complete 

 history it is necessary to go still further back, and to deal with the 

 individual life from which the seed or bud has sprung. As regards the 

 fruit-bearing plants cultivated out of doors in Great Britain, and also with 

 most of those under glass, the first consideration after the plant or tree 

 has attained sufficient size is the production of healthy flower-buds in due 

 proportion, which may be expected, in the absence of climatic or other 

 disasters, to result in fruits that will develop to the fullest their special 

 characters. This is one of the initial stages in successful fruit-growing, 

 as, if flower- buds be few or defective, the cultivator is powerless to remedy 

 the evil by any immediate application or treatment. 



But does the formation of flower-buds receive the attention that the 

 subject demands, and are the various influences fully considered in the 

 cultivator's methods and observations ? 



It is generally recognised that the vegetative and the reproductive 

 forces in plants are to some extent in opposition, and every grower is 

 familiar with the fact that undue luxuriance in a fruit tree is antagonistic 

 to fruit production. But this is not always interpreted in the right way,, 

 nor is the requisite attention always given to the observance of the causes 

 that operate in favouring the formation of flower-buds. 



The fruit trees grown out of doors in this climate are exposed to many 

 constantly varying conditions that are often entirely beyond the cultivator's- 

 control, but the effects can be modified if the influences are carefully 

 observed. Any scientific work in connection with pomology or horticul- 

 ture generally must be assisted by accurate and detailed meteorological 

 notes, and the interpretation of results in one year can usually be obtained 

 only by reference to the observations of the preceding year, and it may even be 

 to the one before that. The production of healthy perfect flower-buds in 

 fruit trees is mainly dependent upon the storage of elaborated but available 

 substances, and these can only have resulted from preceding healthy 

 growth, with active well-developed leaves fully exposed to the influence of 

 light. A much greater proportionate storage is required to favour the 

 formation of flower-buds than is needed by leaves only, and it can often 

 be observed that buds formed in the axils of partially developed leaves of 

 the current season's growth will commence expanding before the attendant 

 leaves are fully developed. This can be seen in Pears early in a warm 

 moist season. A leaf bud requires but moderate actual storage — less than a 

 seed does — because the first partially expanded leaf commences at once 

 the work of elaboration, and there are sap supplies from the branches to 

 support it. In the case of the flower-bud affairs are quite different, as, 



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