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Cross Breeding.—I have been lately collecting all the evidence which I can get from the observation of others and my own, on the natural crossing of varieties of plants. The evidence in regard to Leguminous plants is curiously conflicting, but preponderates against their ever crossing without artificial aid.¹ I should esteem it a singular favour if any of your correspondents would give in your paper or send me any evidence showing either that Leguminous crops, when grown close together, do sometimes cross; or, on the other hand, that they may invariably be grown close together without any chance of deterioration. Charles Darwin, Down, Bromley, Kent.²

¹ For Darwin's assessment see Natural selection, pp. 69-71. See Darwin 1856 which is an almost identical reprint of this letter.

² No replies have been found in Gardeners' Chronicle. See Correspondence vol. 6, p. 296.