Smyrna times., 1902-03-26
COLUMN Of INTEREST TO
SMYRNA PUBLIC SCHOOLS
INTERESTING ARTICLE ON "FRUIT BUDS
CONTRIBUTED BY c. P. CLOSE.
Principal J. p. Burdette Will Make This De-
partment Interesting to School Chill.
dIen and Their Parents.


dIen and Their Parents.
Mr.. Editor:-We as a Public School appre-
ciate very highly what you are doing for Us
in throwing open your columns to US. We
will try to place before your many readers
samples of our work as pupils in literary
direction and also from time to time give
them some idea OF what we as teachers
hold as ideals. For this week we give
place to Prof. G. p. Close, of Delaware
College and feel sure your readers will APP
preciate his work more after reading his
communication. Prof. E. Dwight Sander
son, of the College will also write from time
to time and give you information both in
teresting and instructive.
JOHN Z. BURDETTE, Principal.
Buds Of Fruit Trees.
[ wonder how many of the scholars
have ever noticed the difference III
buds on fruit trees. Now many of you
can tell by examining a bud whether
it will produce leaves or flowers? 1
have known some grown men who
could not tell. Butt am sure the
scholars of your school will learn the
difference this spring.
Before going farther let us take a
bud and tear 1t apart carefully to see
of what it is made. The first part
taken off is of a dark color, thin,
roundish, or somewhat pointed in
shape. This is of leaf scale Now
observe closely how many scales there
are. Do they touch each other at the
edges or do they overlap; is there any
fuzzy material under the tip of each
scale; if so why is it there; are the
scales covered with kind of varnish; +;
if so, does it help the water out?
Would the water do any harm if it
should soak into the bud?
After all the scales are taken off,
what do you find so cozily tucked up
in the center of the bud? Where are
the parts that develop into the leaves
or flowers, or both? How are we 60
ing to tell the flower buds from the
leaf buds? Do you notice those fat,
plump buds, with sides bulging o 1t as
though they had just eaten a big
Thanksgiving dinner? They are flow
er buds. The slim pointed buds
which appear to be hungry, are leaf
buds. We will want to watch the buds
every day and will tell you how 1
manage it; you can all do the same
thing. Just cut off few twigs of
peach and apple right away and put
them in a glass of water in the house
as you would bouquet of roses.
Every other day cut off tiny bit OF
the lower end of each twig, the water
can then get into the twig better than
it could if no fresh cut were made
Change the water every day. Now
watch developments. On the peach
twigs the plump buds get plumpel
and something inside of them pushes
and wriggles so much that the scales
are worked apart and a delicate pink
flower peeps out of the tip. How hap
pvt seems to be to get out of its win
ter prison! The scales are no Longer
needed so they drop to the ground.
The flowers consist of four differen
kinds ofparts for which we must hav,
names. The snowy pink part is calleC
the carolla. Just below the carolla i
a green part called the calyx. Insid
the carolla are ten or more parts tina
look like tiny canes with large goldel
heads; these are stamens and the gold
en- heads are full of yellow dust call
ed pollen. You have seen this yelloV
pollen on honey bees and humble bee
i'll the spring. In the very center c
the flower is little post larger at tn
.. . bottom than it is at the top. This
the pistil. Flowers do not have ''pis
! tils" for the purpose Of celebrating th
Fourth of July. No, they have thei
for an entirely different purpose.
is the pistil which develops into frui
If you have sharp eyes you can sc
when the pistil swells itself into
minute fruit. Who can tell what b
comes of the calyx, carolla and st
mems?
The fruit bud Of the apple is called
. mixed bud because it contains bot
3 leaves and blossoms. Now we vi
have to PIT on our thinking capsif v
u wish to understand all that Moth,
e Nature has packed into that plum
y bud. When the bud swells and Il
scales drop off, we see first cluster
e leaves and inside of this cluster
g fruit buds. How many buds are the
and when they open how do they d
. fer from those of the peach?
. Compare peach twig with a plu
8 twig to see if the buds are arrang
le le in the same way. l think you W
nearly always find little leaf b
d with a big fruit bud on each side of
q they generally go in sets of three
d On plum trees you will also find smi
ie branches an inch or two long, wi
many fruit buds on them. The
branches are called fruit spurs.
ht Do you find the apple and pear bu
e, single instead of in sets of three as
ly peach and plum2 You will also fiji