Mark one bud on a maple, or apple, or lilac, or other plant, by tying a string about the twig. Look at it carefully from day to day: observe how it opens, and what comes out of it.
The pupil should know that a winter twig has interest.
Fig. 220. Opening of an apricot bud.
The bud may be peach or apricot. Soon the bud begins to swell at its top. The scales open. A white lining appears. This lining soon protrudes ([Fig. 220]). Soon the lining opens. We see that it is a flower. Or perhaps the peach bud sends out a green shoot rather than a flower. There must be two kinds of peach and apricot buds,—a flower-bud and a leaf-bud. Can you tell them apart? The flower-bud is thicker and rounder. Usually one stands on either side of a leaf-bud. But the leaf-bud may stand alone. Find one: any peach tree or apricot tree will have leaf-buds, but all may not have flower-buds. As the bud expands and the flower or leaf appears, notice that the bud-scales fall away. Do these scales leave scars? And do not these scars, standing together, make the "ring" which marks the beginning of the new growth?
Fig. 221. Opening of a pear bud.