My dear Sir/

There is an article by a gardener of ability and intelligence in this week’s Chronicle àpropos of tendrils to which I venture to call your attention— the facts he adduces are very curious and I have no doubt they are accurately recorded—¹

—At p. 72 of the “Origin” you allude to the inter-relations between plants living in association and to the changes in those relations consequent on slightly changed conditions &c—

As you allude to “many cases on record” I take the liberty of asking if you have any further note where such cases may be found?—² I know of Dureau de la Malle’s paper³—scattered notices of Hooker’s⁴ and other botanists—and I am familiar with what Alph De Candolle says in his Geographie Botanique⁵   But I think there must be other cases w^h. you had in view when you were writing the Origin— My object in putting the question is to see what has been written concerning the struggle for existence among pasture plants— As you know Mess Lawes & Gilbert have for years been trying the effects of various manures on grass land as well as on cereal & other crops—

The effects on the several grass plots are very remarkable the whole vegetation of the plot being in some cases altered  I have lately been engaged in tabulating and analysing the results obtained during the last twenty years and should like to co-relate the facts with others.⁶ If you can without inconvenience favor me with any reference to the literature of the subject which I am not likely to have seen I shall be greatly obliged—but pray do not put yourself to any trouble in the matter

faithfully y^rs. | Maxwell. T. Masters