TWENTY-SIXTH SESSION. 
41 
plant, and whose parts or some of them develop leaves. (2) Flower buds, 
which consist wholly of unexpanded blossoms. (3) Mixed buds, or those 
. which contain both undeveloped foliage and blossoms. 
Figuratively speaking, the leaf bud devotes its whole attention to the 
temporal and physical development of the individual plant, while the flower 
bud looks to the future and devotes its attention to life beyond the individual* 
life which may be manifested through untold generations. 
The object of the flower is to produce seed. A seed is an undeveloped plant 
produced by the agency of the sexes. A leaf-bud may be regarded as an unde- 
veloped plant produced asexually, or without the agency of the sexes. 
The seed propagates the species. The leaf-bud propagates the individual. 
It is this individuality of leaf -buds that is the cardinal point about which 
turn many of the most important horticultural operations. In fact every 
form of propagation except by seed. 
For some years past I have been making observations upon the development 
of the buds on our more common fruit plants, and in this paper I present a 
simple record of some of these observations. 
The common orchard and garden fruits way be grouped according to their 
flower-bud development into two classes: (1) Those which bear fruit from 
buds formed the previous year. (2) Those which bear frtiit from buds formed 
the same year. 
Each of these classes may be divided according to the position of the 
flower-bud, into two subdivisions, ^which may be termed: (1) Lateral-bear- 
ing. (2) terminal-bearing. 
The lateral-bearing fruit plants of the first division are the peach, nectarine, 
almond and apricot. These do not develop fruit spurs. The terminal-bearing 
fruit plants of those which produce spurs are the apple, plum and pear. 
The lateral-bearing fruit plants of the second division, those which bear fruit 
from buds formed the same year, are the grape, blackberry and raspberry. 
The only common terminal-bearing fruit plant of this class, cultivated in our 
latitude, is the quince. 
Let us now briefly present some of the observed points in the development 
of the buds in the different groups of fruit plants just named. 
Peaches — These are devoid of spurs, the bud being borne directly on the 
shoot or branch. If we examine the lower part of the shoot of the present 
year’s growth, we shall find that the buds sometimes appear singly, some- 
times in twos, and often in threes, there being no definite number. On the 
upper part of the stem or shoot there is usually but one bud in a place, and 
these are often, perhaps usually, flower buds. In the climate of Central 
Ohio these flower-buds rarely live through the winter, and. if they do live 
and expand rarely produce fruit. Sometimes all the buds at one node may 
be flower-buds, or there may be two flower-buds with a leaf-bud between, 
or where there are two buds one may be a flower and the other a leaf-bud. 
Although three buds at a node is not uncommon, I have never found more 
than one of them to expand into a leaf in any healthy peach growth. Unlike 
the general rule, the most vigorous peach buds are not at the distal end of 
the shoot, but on the part first formed, or the lower half. It often happens 
that some of the peach buds will begin to grow the same season they are 
formed, and this growth is not confined to the point alone, but is seen at the 
base as well. 
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