500 



AOYAMA ; 



which form a dense cover of the branches before the leaves 

 appear. 



It is evidently the peculiar climatic condition of central and 

 southern Japan which prevents the production of normal cherries 

 and causes the fruit to fall off in an unripe condition. This cir- 

 cumstance must naturally lead to the accumulation of a great 

 amount of reserve-material in the bark and wood, that would 

 otherwise have been consumed by the ripening fruit, and this is 

 clearly also the cause that leads to the development of such an 

 extraordinary and astonishing abundance of blossoms in the fol- 

 lowing spring. I therefore believed it of some interest to deter- 

 mine the amount of reserve-material in winter and to compare it 

 with the extent of the consumption of this reserve-material in 

 spring when flowers and leaves have been formed. 



Branches I — 1.5 cm. in thickness were collected on the 20th 

 January (A) and, again of the same tree, branches of the same 

 size on the 13th April (B) on which day also I collected from the 

 same tree young leaves and flowers. 



Only the leaving part of the bark, containing more or less 

 cambium, served for analysis. (l) The results I obtained are the 

 following : — 



Bark (A) liarh (B) Leaf. Flower. 



Total water 52.64 53-41 



In 100 parts of dry matter. 





• • • 9-5o 



6.69 



34-94 



20.13 



Crude fat 



6.84 



5-34 



8.99 



10.04 



Crude fibre 



• • • 34-79 



38.98 



14.49 



20.06 



Carbohydrate , 



...27.13 



18.06 



11.82 



12.50 



Crude ash . 



...... 7.76 



7-93 



6.51 



7.25 



Non-nitrogenous extract 



12.46 



21.93 



17.66 



26.80 



Total nitrogen 



. . 1.52 



1.07 



5-59 



3.22 



Albuminoid nitrogen 



1. 18 



0.84 



4-55 



2.40 



If we compare the precentage composition of bark (A) with 

 that of bark (B), we can obtain no clear distinction between re- 

 lative and absolute numbers, i.e. between the apparent and real 

 decrease or increase of the different constituents ; evidently a 



(1) The wood was not examined. Some trees contain more starch in Mat ch and 

 April than in January {Rosetibcrg, Bot. Centrhl. 66, 337). Cf. also the above examina- 

 tion of the root of the mulberry tree, by Maeno. Tt may be that in such cases fat and 

 proteins contributed to the formation of starch. 



