240 NEW JERSEY AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



from the increasing weight of the fruits they are bearing. For 

 example, a long branch with upright fruits may lean out many 

 degrees from the perpendicular and at first the fruits will point 

 towards the tip of the deflected stem and the older fruits with 

 their woody stalks may remain nearly unchanged but the ped- 

 uncles of the young fruits just emerging from the flower will • 

 attempt to adjust themselves to the new line of gravity. 



Plate XI will help to illustrate this subject more clearly. At 

 15 is shown the normal upright position of the fruit in a cross, 

 while at 16 is seen an upright branch of another plant of the same 

 cross with the fruits pendent. At i is shown an upright spray 

 of ''Christmas" pepper and at 2 a horizontal branch from the 

 same plant in which the fruits are actually more nearly upright 

 than a photograph can show. In the small-fruited sort. "Bird's 

 Eye" (4), at 3 and 4 are shown two sprays, the upright and 

 the horizontal, with the fruits quite generally upon nearly perpen- 

 dicular stems. Three tips of "Nocera Red" (79) at 5 and 6 

 illustrate the position taken by the young stout peduncles whether 

 they are borne by perpendicular or by lateral branches, and the 

 same is shown in a cross where both parents, "Oxheart" and 

 "Chinese Giant." have pendent fruits. In "New Tomato" (48) 

 and "Small Chili" (9), the subject is further illustrated and in 

 the latter it is well shown that the perpendicular is assumed 

 by the fruit-stalk quite early in the development of the fruit. 

 These young stems seem as sensitive to the stimulus of gravita- 

 tion -as any other and they develop much supporting tissue par- 

 ticularly if the load of a large fruit is to be borne. Perhaps as 

 striking an instance as any is given in the cross of the "Tomato"' 

 upon "Red Cherry," both upright, where the fruits long and 

 curved are held aloft, whether the branch is upright as at 13, 

 or lying upon the ground presumably from overweight as at 14. 

 Upright branches, when purposely bent and fastened down to 

 the horizontal, have been studied showing the general fact of 

 conformity to gravity whether at the outset upright or pendent. 



A study of the position of the pepper fruits naturally begins 

 with the flower bud and as soon as it has any visible stem. 

 Such stems are almost invariably upright, that is, parallel with 

 the line of gravity which may be quite different from extending 

 parallel with the branch that bears it. The young flowers or 

 buds upon their peduncles are usually somewhat lateral, that is, 

 bent so that the tip points more or less horizintally and the blos- 

 som opens with its face toward the horizon and not zenith-ward- 

 or its opposite. 



