December 1, 1908 
The Orchard. 
Fruit Buds. 
Experimentalists have been trying of 
‘late to ascertain exactly when it is that 
the buds of a fruit-tree can be accurately 
differentiated as flower-buds or leaf-buds., 
On most trees there is nothing to show 
at first whether a bud will burst into a 
blossom or develop into a leaf, and no 
one knows what determines the differen- 
tiation. According to Professor W. S. 
Thornton, the horticulturist of the 
Washington experimental station, it was 
at one time supposed that if a tree failed 
to develop buds in July or August it 
would not fruit that year. (Of course 
‘the professor is speaking of the American 
summer, which is our winter.) But 
experiments show that during favourable 
-seasons a tree which has been robbed of 
its fruit buds as late as October 15, is 
capable of producing a fair crop of fruit 
next year, the conclusion being that the 
period of flower-bud formation is almost 
unlimited, and frequently extends from 
the end of June to late winter or early 
‘spring. The development of the growing 
-4ips into fruit or into leaf-buds may be 
accounted for by the temperature and 
moisture of the season, cool weather 
checking growth, and, the food materia! 
being already manufactured, embryoni, 
flowers are thrown out. A check of the 
downward flow of sap, or of the growth 
of the mature tree, whether due to the 
-want of food or to want of water, causes 
‘the development at once of a large 
number of fruit-buds. Removing the 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
leaves, or all but one leaf from fruit- 
spurs before the buds were obviously 
truit-buds, seemed to produce little or no 
change in the manner of growth, though 
it hastened maturity. Trees in untilled 
orchards have heen found to produce 
fewer buds than those which were looked 
after, but the buds matured earlier. 
Apparently the soil of untilled orchards 
being drier than that of those which are 
cultivated, the trees in them cease 
growing sooner, and, consequently, have 
not as much reserve food for the develop- 
ment of fruit-buds, When ground is 
cultivated, there is plenty of moisture for 
the roots, and the trees keep on growing, 
fruit buds not being formed until late in 
the season, or when cool nights have 
checked growth. On the other hand, an 
experiment upon two young Gideon 
apples, made by Professor Goff, of Wins- 
consin, in which one tree received weekly 
during June and July two barrels of 
water; while the other was left to depend 
on the rainfall, showed that they com- 
to develop flower-buds at 
practically the same time, and that the 
irrigation, while increasing growth, 
tended to reduce the size and weight of 
the buds. In peach, plums, and cherry 
trees, it seems that from three to four 
menced 
months are required for the development 
of the floral organs of a bud; but in 
apple and pear trees there are great 
variations of age. Some buds flower in 
the first year; but many wait until the 
second, and even third season after 
formation before blossoming, and densely 
shaded spurs sometimes never develop. 
This semi dormant condition of buds 
gives a plausible explanation for the 
alternation of large and small crops of 
fruit. 
Automobile Walnut Gatherer 
A great drawback to the industry of 
growing English and Persian walnuts in 
California has always been the harvesting 
of the crop, says the *Los Angeles 
Herald.’ The nuts are allowed to fall 
from the trees and are then picked up by 
gangs of men and women, mostly Mexi- 
cans, who hull them by hand as the P 
17 
gather them into their sacks. The 
process is slow, and, in cases of scarcity 
of labor, a whole crop is lakely to lie on 
the ground through a night’s rain or 
heavy fog. In view of this fact a recent 
device is much appreciated by the nut- 
men of the south-west. 
is nothing less than a machine whereby 
the nuts are gathered from the ground, 
separated from all waste, then hulled and 
sacked without leaving the machine. It 
requires two men to operate it, and will 
do the work of 100 men all the season 
through. 
This invention 
This machine consists of a two 
cylinder gasoline engine taken from an 
old Jackson car. The Jackson engine is 
hung between 4 ft. wheels low to the 
ground, so as 
branched trees. 
to get under the low- 
This truck, which the 
engine propels, carries the walnut picking 
apparatus. There is a large exhaust 
blower, producing about 18 oz. to the 
inch pressure, working as a suction pump 
at the front. The intake divides into 18 
tributaries, each 4 in. in diameter. 
These suck up all the walnuts which 
come in their path, picking clean a swath 
6 ft. wide, at about four mile an hour 
clip. The temporary derangement of one 
tributary will not interfere with the 
others. The nuts, leaves, and twigs thus 
sucked up are dumped into a large tank, 
and the exit force of the blower separates 
the debris and bad nuts from the good 
ones, and blows the waste materialout on 
the ground behind the machine. The 
good nuts go to the huller, where they 
are completely hulled and the hulls 
blown away, and sent through a long 
tube to a sack which, when it receives a 
certain weight, is closed and sewn 
automatically. 
Antiquity of the Apple. 
All the apples known are the progeny 
of Pyrus malus, which is wild in many 
parts of Hurope and Asia. It has been. 
used for food and cultivated by man for 
upwards of 4,000 years. The greater 
number of varieties now in cultivation 
have, however, been bred within the last 
century or so, new varieties being added. 
