526 Pieters. — Influence of Fruit-bearing on 
the Plum than was found in the Apple or Pear. However, 
satisfactory results could only be obtained by taking sections 
of shoots whose fruit-bearing history was known for several 
years past, and measuring the amount of wood formed each 
year. A comparison of the amount formed during fruitful 
and unfruitful years would show the effect of fruit-bearing 
and whether any such effect was constant. 
A few trees of the Wild Goose variety of Plum were found 
whose history for the past three years was known. During 
1891 the trees bore a heavy crop of fruit, but bore no fruit at 
all during 1892 and 1893. In the spring of 1894 shoots were 
cut from different parts of one of these trees for the purpose 
of studying the effect of a heavy crop upon the amount 
of wood formed during the fruit-bearing year, but with no 
special reference to the shoot upon which the fruit was 
borne. 
In the following table the measurements are given, as 
before, in terms of the eye-piece micrometer, each having 
a value of 15 micromillimetres 1 . 
Table 8 . — Average amount of wood formed during 
1893. 
1892. 
1891. 1890. 
1889. 
Aver, of 
1 year old 
62 
4 
2 years old 
54 
37 
5 
3 years old 
35 
52 
45 
6 
4 years old 
30 
34 
34 42 
4 
5 years old 
25 
43 
30 35 
29 
2 
No fruit 
No fruit Fruit-bear- Un= 
Un- 
borne. 
borne. 
ing year, known. 
known. 
The average amount of wood formed in the shoots three, 
four, and five years old, during 1891, the fruit-bearing year, is 
36; during 1892, 43; and during 1893, 30. The average 
annual amount formed in these shoots during these three 
1 It should be borne in mind that throughout the paper all actual measurements 
are given in units of the eye-piece micrometer, each unit being equal to 15 micro- 
millimetres. 
