EXPERIMENT STATION REPORT. 241 



During the period of blooming, the flower-stalk elongates con- 

 siderably, depending upon the variety, and by the time the 

 corolla has fallen, it is usual to find the young fruit with its 

 still adhering slender style pointed upward or downward as the 

 variety is of the upright or pendent type. This final position 

 seems to be reached by a growth taking place chiefly in the region 

 of the peduncle just below the young fruit, the greater elonga- 

 tion upon the upper side turning the fruit down and contrari- 

 wise, when upon the under side, bringing the young pepper to> 

 an upright position. When once the vertical is reached, any 

 change in the direction of the branch throwing the fruit upon 

 it, out of plumb, will bring about a change in the peduncles so 

 that the young fruit again resumes its vertical position. When 

 the fruit is nearing full size, the above adjustment does not take 

 place, due to a rigidity of the peduncle. Pepper branches are re- 

 markably brittle and from winds and other causes the heavily 

 laden stems are broken down and as they hang somewhat in- 

 verted, the fruits show the adjustment in whole or part that is 

 above mentioned. 



If one may be permitted to assume that the small-fruited' 

 sorts most nearly approach the wild condition of the Capsicum 

 annuum, it seems probable that the pendent position is a charac- 

 teristic that may have had its origin since the species (or group) 

 has been under cultivation. At the present time, the pendent 

 type outnumbers more than two to one those sorts with upright 

 fruits. For example, of the fifty kinds listed in the report for 

 1908 (page 286), there are thirty-five pendent to fifteen up- 

 right. Of the former nineteen are large, while of the latter 

 nine are small. In other words, the upright are generally small- 

 fruited and the large-fruited are usually pendent. It is not,, 

 of course, merely a matter of size, for there are four quite large 

 upright-fruited sorts in the above list and a like number with 

 small pendent fruits. It is possible when the extremes of size 

 only are considered the rule that the small are upright and the- 

 large, pendent, might be sustained. 



As the position of the fruit is not clearly correlated witli 

 size, so it is not with that of shape ; for the short and blunt,, 

 the long and slender, the round, and the large and angular may 

 be either pendent or upright. The same is true of the various 

 characteristics of stem and leaf, and including the matter of 

 pungency in the frviit. In other words, the position of the 

 fruit is no indication of "sweetness" or its opposite. 



When it comes to the breeding of varieties together that differ 

 in the position of the fruit, it is found that in the blend or first 



