WALDRON— THE PEANUT 329 



responding to the punctum vegetationis of the root lies just below 

 the ovary which occupies the extreme tip of this organ. The ovary, 

 however, is almost microscopically small and remains so during the 

 growth of the gynophore. To illustrate the extremely small space 

 occupied by it, the hairs which were not more than one millimeter 

 from the tips of the gynophores as mentioned above were still below 

 the growing point under the ovary. While this difference in the 

 position of the growing point exists between root and gynophore, 

 the difference which it makes in estimating the relative distances of 

 the hairs from the tips is practically nothing. 



"The resemblance between these hairs and those ot roots was fur- 

 ther tested by repeated experiments in pulling young gynophores 

 carefully from the soil. The minute portions of earth clung to the 

 hairs and refused to be separated from them in the same manner as 

 in the case of root hairs. In several instances these hairs were tested 

 for acids and were found to respond readily to the litmus paper test. 



"Still another experiment was made which furnishes strong evi- 

 dence that one function of the gynophore hairs corresponds to the 

 chief function of those of the root. A large, well developed, thriftily 

 growing plant was cut in such a manner as to separate the whole 

 root system from the stems, but the latter were still connected with 

 the ground by numerous well grown gynophores. The result was 

 that the plant so treated after two weeks still presented nothing to 

 a superficial inspection to distinguish it from others in its vicinity 

 whose roots were left intact. Closer examination showed that some 

 branches were dead; but the majority were putting out new leaves 

 which appeared quite as strong and healthy as any of those on sim- 

 ilar plants in the vicinity which were supported by roots. Un- 

 fortunately these experiments were begun late in the season, and the 

 appearance of the frost prevented their continuance." 



Fruit Maturation. Other writers state that all attempts to make 

 the gynophore produce aerial fruits by digging away the soil as the 

 gynophore elongates fail. It is also well known that any such stem 

 dries up unless it reaches the soil by the time it is two to three inches 

 long. The length to which it grows before drying varies with the 

 humidity of the air. Experiments were thus made in an attempt to 

 determine what caused the ovary to enlarge, and what would pre- 

 vent it. Plants with gynophores of various lengths were put in a 

 saturated atmosphere and not allowed to penetrate any substratum. 

 In all cases the gynophores continued to elongate and become green 



