hoot. By the end of May or early June this shoot
had grown to twelve inches long, for the growth in length on the twigs
of trees is usually completed that early. This shoot bore leaves on
the 2/5 arrangement; in the axil of every leaf was a bud, the
strongest buds being with the strongest leaves at the middle and top
of the shoot; in the autumn of 1920 these leaves fell, but the buds
remained, persisted the winter, and were ready to "grow" in the early
spring of 1921. We see them on No. 1 (Fig. 14).

[Illustration: 15. The growing shoot, with a bud in each axil, and a
spur on last year's growth.]

In 1921 these buds on No. 1, then, would have grown. New leaves would
have come from the bud itself; in fact, the winter buds of the apple
are packed with miniature leaves and sometimes with flowers as well.
The shoot coming out of the bud may remain very short, constituting a
"spur," or grow with long internodes, making a slender twig. Fig. 15
shows a branch with new elongated growth, _b_ to _a_, and a shoot or
spur (_c_) arising from a bud of the previous year. Note the "ring,"
or division beyond _b_, marking the turn of the year.

It will be noted in Fig. 14 that the buds are of two shapes and sizes,
such as _a, a, a_, representing one kind and _b, b_, the other kind.
The former, small and pointed, are leaf-buds; from them will arise a
shoot bearing only leaves. The latter, _b_, large and rounded and
usually more fuzzy, are flower-buds (fruit-buds): from them will arise
a short shoot bearing leaves and a cluster of flowers; and we hope
that at least one of the flowers will set fruit.

We are now ready to resume our lesson with the branch before us. We
have identified the slender terminal part, No. 1, as the growth of
1920. We are now to account for all the remaining buds and branchlets.

If No. 1 grew in 1920, then the main shoot of No. 2 grew in 1919, from
the point _o o_. It is also one foot long. Near its base are four
small buds that remained dormant in 1920. There are nine branches
(_d_) of various lengths besides the terminal shoot No. 1, all of
which grew in 1920, for they are naturally a year younger than the
main axis from which they arise; these branches are the same age as
No. 1, with buds that would have produced shoots in 1921. But the
terminal buds of eight of these lateral shoots (all but the lowermost)
bear blossom-buds at the end; note their size and shape. Had not the
branch been cut, these buds would