452 LETTEBS TO DAEWIN, 1843-1859 



shadow of a generalisation ? I have often recommended 

 germination and first formed leaves as the most interesting 

 enquiry a young Botanist could take up, and particularly 

 urged it upon G. Henslow. 



Towards the end of the year, when about to visit Down, 

 he sought some Darwinian information from his old friend 

 Berkeley. 



Have you ever made any observations on inducing 

 varieties by playing tricks with plants ? as by high manuring 

 wild species; plucking all their flowers off for several years; 

 pruning; &c. Darwin wants to know who has done such 

 things; 



Writing on January 12, 1858, Darwin refers to his own 

 former belief, and Asa Gray's strongly expressed opinion, 

 that Papilionaceous flowers were fatal to his notion of there 

 being no eternal hermaphrodites among plants. He now 

 brings forward evidence to show that in this class of plants 

 cross-fertilisation takes place through the visits of bees, and 

 that since the latter were introduced into New Zealand, clover 

 had begun to seed, which did not happen before. Several 

 questions arise for Hooker to answer. 



January 15, 1858. 



The Leguminous affair is extremely curious, I am quite 

 gone over to your side in the matter of eternal hybrids and 

 hermaphs. Carmichaelia and Clianthus have closed flowers, 

 and hence probably require artificial hybridization, but 

 Edwardsia has exserted genitalia and should not be a parallel 

 case. With regard to the Wellington Clover case, it really 

 looks too good my impression is that Wellington was 

 hardly a colony before 1842, and that there could not be 

 sufficient clover cultivation there before that to warrant 

 any conclusions, but I may be wrong. At any rate I should 

 like some definite details of the state and extent of clover 

 crops before 1842, say in 1839-1840. I will show your 

 letter to Sinclair who will be here to-morrow. 



None of the New Zealand Legumes have flowers quite 

 as small as clover, though those of Carmichaelia and of 

 Notospartium are very small. Is it not dangerous to assume 



