INFLUENCE OF ORCHARD SOIL MANAGEMENT ON 
FRUIT BUD DEVELOPMENT AND FORMA- 
TION AS FOUND IN THE APPLE. 
R. S. KIRBY. 
Since this is merely a progress report on fruit bnd develop- 
ment, it is impossible to draw definite conclusions, as insufficient 
data have been compiled. 
The chief object of orcharding is the production of the largest 
possible amount of high class fruit. Since the development of 
fruit really starts with the development of the fruit bud, the 
production of' high grade fruit depends on the development of 
the fruit buds. Therefore it would be important to determine 
what influence the different methods of soil management would 
have on fruit bud formation and development. 
This problem deals with the morphological structure of the 
apple fruit bud as found in its development from the time of the 
leaf and flower bud differentiation until the opening of the 
flowers. The buds studied were from six trees each, of two 
varieties; Grimes Golden and Jonathan, which are located in 
the state Experiment Orchard at Council Bluffs, Iowa, 
These trees were grown under four orchard cultural condi- 
tions, namely white sweet clover sod, cover crop, blue grass sod, 
and clean tillage, with two trees of each variety serving as 
checks in the two first named conditions. 
The methods followed included taking ten buds from each 
tree at intervals of about two weeks from July 6, 1916, till 
blossoming time in 1917. The buds were fixed and imbedded 
according to the recommendations of A. W. Drinkard, Jr., 1 ex- 
cept for a few minor changes. It was found that collodion 
could be eliminated and the buds successfully sectioned when 
imbedded in hard paraffin by keeping the buds in a ten per 
cent alcoholic glycerine solution for twenty-four hours to soften 
the tissue and infiltrating in an oven in which the temperature 
was not allowed to rise over two degrees C. above the tempera- 
ture of the paraffin used. 
1 Drinkard, A. W., Jr., Fruit Bud Formation and Development: Annual 
Report Va. Polytechnic Institute Agr. Exp. Sta., 1909. 
