ds
terminating two of them. Shoot _l_ bore flowers at its point in 1920
but did not carry the fruit to maturity; it also made two side growths
and one terminal growth, all terminated by flower-buds, to be blown in
1921. The shoot _m_ is a short spur that made a flower-bud in 1919 and
in 1920 carried three little fruits for a time and made a flower-bud
in 1920. Shoot _n_ remained very short in 1919, making a terminal
leaf-bud; in 1920 it grew two inches and made a weak flower-bud.

If shoot No. 3 grew in 1918, then No. 4 grew in 1917; but the branch
is severed and I cannot trace the record farther. We could trace the
family history many years if we had the unpruned tree before us.

Here, then, in my yard-long manuscript are forty bud-records on the
main axis, counting the terminals on No. 2 and No. 3. I can find
record of 144 buds on the side shoots. This makes a grand total of 184
buds. There is a total growth in length of 108 inches, or 9 feet. Each
of the buds that has already "grown" has produced an average of
probably ten leaves, or say 340 leaves in total. If there were an
average of five flowers to the cluster, then about 150 flowers would
have been carried on my branch, with the potentiality of 150 fruits;
but in fact not more than three or four maturing fruits would have
been produced in these years: and I should think this a good
proportion as blossoms and apples go. Certainly the branch has done
its part. There have been three eventful years.

I would not have my reader to suppose that one may always distinguish
leaf-buds and fruit-buds at a glance. I may be mistaken in some of the
above determinations, but they are essentially correct for I have the
twig before me. In some varieties of apples the differences between
the two kinds of buds are less marked. The certain way is to dissect
the bud: one may then see what it contains.

It now remains to determine how the branch was placed in the tree. It
must have been upright or very nearly so, for the main axis is
essentially straight and the branchlets are about equally developed on
all sides; moreover, there is no indication in the bark that one
exposure was the "weather side." The big twig _i_ apparently found a
light and unoccupied space into which to develop, but its extension is
not greatly out of proportion. I suppose, however, that my branch was
not topmost in the tree; there is no indication in very long growth or
strong upward tendency of the branchle