From Thomas Rivers   20 May 1866

My Dear Sir/

My son¹ was struck last year by observing in his garden the apparent instinct of a “Haricot” French bean—a variety called a dwarf F. B but which puts forth slender twining shoots— one of these was taking an upright direction when suddenly & in calm weather it turned off abruptly to the N.E, & caught hold of the young shoot of a plum tree trained to the wall in front of which the row of beans was growing   the tree here made what gardeners call “foreright” shoots² & to one of these the bean attached itself. My son was amused & took a sketch which I enclose, it will perhaps give you an idea of what took place.³ The row of beans was 2$\frac{1}{2}$ feet from the end of the plum shoots,

The Wistaria (Glycine) from which I cut the shoots sent to you are from a tree turned to a S.W. aspect so that their return voyage was due N.E.⁴

I hope to see you at the Congress on Wednesday next⁵   I am deputed to follow Decandolle in a short lecture on Horticulture the subject “raising new kinds of fruit from seed”⁶

I have plenty in me but whether it will come out I can’t say

I am My d^r Sir | Y^rs. very truly | Th^os. Rivers