452 LETTEES TO DARWIN, 1843-1859 
shadow of a generalisation ? I have often recommended 
germination and first formed leaves as the most interesting 
enquiry a 3^oung 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 3^ou 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 behef, 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. Carrnichaelia and Cliantlius 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 
sufiicient 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 
Notosyartium are very small. Is it not dangerous to assume 
