Agar-gel electrophoresis was used for studying the protein fractions of apple-tree blossom and leaf extracts and some qualitative differences were found. The finding is discussed in connection with flower-bud differentiation.

Samples of the leaf tissue (14cm²) were placed in a plexiglass chamber which consisted of three parts. Water absorbed by the leaf tissue on one side of the sample was transported through the middle part of the sample to the opposite side and was transpirated there. The intensity of transpiration the intensity of water absorption and water saturation deficit (w.s.d.) were determined simultaneously in this tissue by gravimetry. Water balance was studied either in saturated samples of leaf tissue or in tissue where w.s.d. (10%, 20%, 30%, 40%) was established in advance. Although conditions for water absorption in leaf segments were optimal, w.s.d. originated in the saturated leaf tissue under all given external conditions (evaporation from 41.7 to 17.8 mg cm^-2 h^-1). W.s.d. which was established in advance for the most part increased during the experiment and reached even high values (more than 60%). the equilibration was reached only under conditions of low evaporation and initial w.s.d. higher than 20% in young leaves and higher than 30% in adult leaves. A positive correlation between the ratio of the intensity of water absorption to the intensity of transpiration and w.s.d. was found only under conditions of lower evaporation (17.8 and 23.2mg cm^-2h^-1). The maximal values of w.s.d. were limited in this way.
Water balance was studied: 1. in leaf tissue of upper, middle and lower leaves of fodder cabbage, 2. in leaf tissue of middle leaves of young and adult plants of fodder cabbage, 3. in leaf tissue of dicots (fodder cabbage) with different vessel orientation in respect to water transport, 4. in leaf tissue of monocots (banana-tree) with water transport upright to the vessel orientation.
Considerable change of water balance was observed when the water transport was prolonged by two incisions in the middle part of the sample.
Results of all these experiments revealed the possibility of water stress origin even in leaf tissue sufficiently supplied with water.

Intensity of transpiration, intensity of water absorption, water saturation deficit (w.s.d.) in different parts of samples and rate of water transport was investigated in samples from leaf tissue of fodder cabbage and banana-tree.
In all experiments (at initial w.s.d. 0% and 20%, in samples from upper, middle and lower leaves of fodder cabbage and from leaves of banana-tree) a distinct gradient of w.s.d. in the direction of transport of water was determined, therefore the limiting factor in the water balance was rate of water transport and not rate of water absorption.
The lowest amount of water was always transported within transpiring part of sample. When the initial w.s.d. was 0% not only the water transported by tissue from the environment, but also the water of the leaf tissue itself took part in water lost by transpiration and therefore water stress originated in the whole sample. At an initial w.s.d. of 20%, the rate of water absorption was higher than the rate of water transport and therefore the increase of w.s.d. in the transpiring part of the sample was accompanied by a simultaneous decrease of w.s.d. in the transporting part.
An increase in the value of w.s.d. in leaf tissue proportionally increased the resistance of water transport in the liquid phase (on the average from 1.7 . 10³ to 6.7 . 10³ atm min cm² g^-1) and also in the gaseous phase (on the average from 2.7 . 10^-2 to 14.0 . 10^-2 min cm^-1).
It was proved that insufficient rate of water transport can be responsible for the origin of water stress. At the same time the rate of water transport was influenced by the value of the w.s.d. since every change of w.s.d. in leaf tissue not only the gradient of water potential changed but also the resistance to water transport.

Labelled carbon dioxide was supplied for 22 hrs to a leaf of the leader or to the lateral shoot in two-year-old apple seedlings. The distribution of radioactive assimilates within the plant following this treatment was investigated by using radioautography.
The transport of labelled assimilates from the young leaf of the leader was very meagre and affected only parts of the stem and the leaves situated in the close vicinity of the treated leaf.
The¹⁴C-labelled assimilates from the mature leaf of the leader were transported in a considerable amount to the apex and to the other leaves of the leader. They were also found in an appreciable amount in the stem and the roots, as well as in some lateral shoots.
After supplying¹⁴CO₂ to the lateral shoot remarkable transport of labelled assimilates was observed. Radioactivity was detected in the tip and in the youngest leaves of the leader, as well as in the roots. Their path in the stem was studied by dissecting the plant and examining the cross section from each internode. This method revealed that the assimilates from the treated leaf or shoot were transported downward only on one side of the stem in a helical pattern. The lateral shoots situated on the radioactive side of the stem were also labelled, whereas those situated on the opposite (non-radioactive) side were not labelled.

Of twenty common oligosaccharides, monosaccharides and sugar alcohols tested, raffinose was found to be the best substrate for growth and respiration of apple pollen tubes. While in a solution of sucrose growth is retarded after about six hours, accompanied by a decrease in respiration intensity, no such decrease was observed in pollen tubes cultivated in a solution of raffinose even after 10 to 20 hrs. of growth. Raffinose is inverted by pollen tubes much more slowly than sucrose which is taken as the cause of the long-term effect of raffinose. Pollen did not germinate at all in a solution of turanose.
It thus appears to be probable that the primary factor in the specific effect of sucrose and raffinose on the growth of apple-tree pollen tubes is the presence of β-D-fructofuranose in the sugar molecule.

Seeds of apple and pear trees were found to contain 0-5-0-7% tryptophane expressed per dry weight. The hydrolyzate of the seeds contained tryptophane demonstrable microbiologically. Exogenous tryptophane applied to apple-tree shoots toward the end of the vegetation season gives rise to a new compound. Its R_F in isopropanol : ammonia : water (10 : 1 : 1) was found to be 0.08, in butanol : acetic acid : water (4:1:5) 0.25.

Many studies have been made on ribosomes both in plant and animal material, on account of their importance in the proteosynthesis of protein. In plant material, studies have been made on the pea by Ts'o andBonner (1956), Ts'o,Bonner andVinograd (1958),Setterfield et al. (1960) andSisakyan et al. (1963). Ribosome from spinach were investigated byLyttleton (1962) andMurakami (1963) and fromClivia byMikulská et al. (1962). As part of a wider study of the mechanism of biosynthesis of nucleic acids in apple trees, we isolated ribosomes from the young green fruit and studied them by means of electron microscopy. Young apples were selected because cell division is very intense at this stage of growth of the apple.

Kinetin and 6-benzylaminopurine were applied to apple-trees (Malus domestica) with the aim of regulating growth and metabolism of buds. A single dose of 20-200;Cg. kinin counteracted the inhibitory effect of the fruit on bud growth. Lower doses resulted in thickening of buds, higher doses in bursting of buds to form twigs.
It was found with the aid of radioactive phosphate that the inhibitory effect of fruits is reflected particularly in a considerable decrease of incorporation of radioactive phosphate into the fraction of free nucleotides, especially in meristematic tissues. Furthermore the rate of synthesis of nucleoproteins and phospholipids is considerably decreased in the buds of a fruit-bearing apple-tree as compared with those of one which is barren in the given year.
The kinins bring about a change in the metabolism of buds adjacent to fruits (both of their meristem and scale integuments) and the incorporation of radioactive phosphate resembles after a seven-day exposure very much that in the buds of a barren apple-tree.
Radioactive 6-benzylaminopurine-^9-14C was synthesized here and autoradiography revealed that it is localized in the vicinity of the point of application, predominantly in the bark and in the phloem. It is little transported toward the apical end, somewhat more toward the basal end of the shoot (an X-ray film darkens several cm. away from the point of application). After an extended period of time another radioactive substance was isolated from the experimental material, the substance differring from 6-benzylaminopurine in itsRF value during paper chromatography. The substance is being further investigated.

The work described here was carried out during the last three years mainly on the castle premises at Lužany near Přeštice (Hlávka's foundation). It dealt with the disease of the horse chestnut-tree (Aesculus hippocastanum L.). The symptoms and their development have also been observed at a number of other places. According to the classification ofBose (Wageningen) the symptoms belong to the groups of Colour changes (II), Necrosis (IV), Deformation (VII) and partly also Growth reduction (of fruits). We are dealing here with a disease that was described bySorauer andThomas 60 years ago as abiosis. Since some of the symptoms suggested a virus origin of the disease some diagnostic tests were carried out. The serological test was negative on account of the chemical composition of chestnut leaves which are not amenable to such tests. Grafting and inoculating tests on healthy seedlings were positive. Viral necrosis of the horse chestnut is a disease of the system which is not transferred by contact. It is readily transferred by grafting and inoculating. Some symptoms suggest that it can also partly be transferred by seeds.

Proliferation of the cambium and parenchyma of branches from 34 tree species was studied by means of tissue culturesin vitro. The formation of callus tissue, the seasonal activity of cambium, the effects of indole-3-acetic acid on the reactivation of cambium and the polarity of callus formation were investigated.
Various tree species are characterized by a different capacity for callus formation; in the majority of species, however, the reaction of cambium takes place in culturesin vitro. Some species produce callus from the cortex and the pith of branches and the lenticels simultaneously with the reactivation of cambium.
Growth of callus tissue was maximal in winter, adequate in spring before budding occurred and later decreased greatly. During the summer the growth-rates increased again and in the autumn were close to those encountered during the winter. Some species are characterized by a similarly intensive cambial proliferation throughout the whole year.
Indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) in the cultivation medium had various effects on the growth of callus tissue in the species examined. A series of species initiated meristematic foci in callus tissues that gave rise to roots (more frequently on media with added IAA) or to buds and stems.
The position of the sections in the medium (whether the apical end was placed upwards or downwards) had no great effect on the polarity of callus formation. Some species produced callus tissue at both ends of sections.

With the aim of finding a biochemical criterion of pollen fertility the pollen of diploid and triploid apple varieties was investigated for the content of the following aminoacids: alanine, γ-aminobutyric acid, aspartic acid, asparagine, arginine, cysteine/cystine, phenylalanine, glutamic acid, glutamine, histidine, leucine-isoleucine, proline, serine, threonine and valine. The apple pollen was found to contain the greatest amount of proline, the principal amide being asparagine. The pollen of diploid varieties contains more proline and less histidine as compared with that of the triploid ones. Both differences are highly significant. The proline-histidine quotient (PHQ) represents an important criterion of pollen fertility. Its value varied between 1.2 and 8.1 for seven triploid varieties, and between 17.5 and 53.3 for seven diploid ones. It depends not only on the variety but also on physiological conditions of the tree given by the environmental situation. The varieties tested do not significantly differ in the content of other amino-acids in pollen.

The author investigated in the course of two years the osmotic pressure of 70 trees of 7 apple tree sorts, 5 of these bearing fruit periodically and 2 every year. At the beginning of the experiment, one half of the trees were without fruit and the other half with fruit-set. The experiment was carried out on 10-12-year-old trees (stock M II, M IX and M IV) in the NW apple-growing region of Bohemia (Střčžovice, Těchobuzice). Three or four times during every vegetation season leaves of brachyblasts of fruit-bearing and resting apple trees were removed and the osmotic pressure of their cell sap as well as its electric conductivity were measured. Once in every season, terminal buds of brachyblasts usually giving rise to flower buds were removed and treated identically as the leaves.
It follows from the data obtained that growing fruits bring about a decrease in osmotic pressure of leaves of apple trees by 2-6 atmospheres, depending on the amount of fruit-set and on the season. This decrease depends very little on weather and differences in osmotic pressure of the cell sap of fruit-bearing and resting apple trees are highly significant in July. The cell sap osmotic pressure in buds is decreased less - by 1-2 atmospheres. A significant positive correlation between the value of osmotic pressure and flöwer-bud formation of the sort Boskopská červená was demonstrated. In sorts bearing fruit annually, no such correlation, could be observed.

The authors investigated the transport and localization of radioactive phosphorus in ownroot and grafted fruit trees. Radioactive phosphate was usually applied to conductive tissues of a thinner root (about 5-8 mm. in diameter). By periodic measurement of the radioactivity of leaves, the localization of radioactive phosphorus was determined in all top branches, and after 2-2.5 months in the four opposite sectors of the root system.
The experimental trees were grafted fruiting apple trees from 6 to 8 year-old (24 trees), own-root 5-6-year-old apple-trees (20 trees), own-root 4-6-year-old plum-trees (4 trees) and grafted 4-6year-old apricot-trees (4 trees). By applying radioactive phosphorus directly to the conductive tissue of roots a high radioactivity of some top branches was achieved, which made it possible to examine the localization of radioactive phosphorus in the tree-top and in tree roots two to three months after application.
As with separated nutrition (Belavin 1958), radioactive phosphorus injected into a thinner root is transported to most top branches, but most of it is localized only in some of them. After a two-month exposure, no marked equilibration of phosphorus concentration is observed to take place among the principal top branches.
It was demonstrated by measuring the radioactivity of 4 opposite sectors of the root system of grafted trees (16 apple and 4 apricot trees) that two months after exposure radioactive phosphorus can also be found in the roots of the sector opposite to that where radioactive phosphorus had been applied.
It was found by autoradiography that radioactive phosphorus is transported by a definite part of trunk xylem. A small portion, however, is transported horizontally through the trunk. No significant difference was found between own-root (no seedlings) and grafted trees with respect to the transport and localization of radioactive phosphorus. After a certain time the tree distributes the radioactive phosphorus throughout the organism, but the half-time of³²P does not permit of tracing its transport from the root system to the entire top during the subsequent vegetation season.