510 Caswell Road
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
27514

March 22, 1969

Dr. J. Lederbert

Genetics Department
Stanford University
Stanford, California

Dear Dr. Lederberg,

I am sorry that your communication was delayed in reaching
me here where we have retired.

I have read the copies of your column with much interest
and admiration. It must take a great deal of energy to keep up
with a regular stint of this kind.

I know of no really good current monograph on the origins
of cultivated plants. Most students of this general subject have
become specialized as I have, concentrating on one important cul-
tivated plant and its relatives. My specialty, of course, is
corn and I am now in the throes of completing a book on that sub-
ject. There are several people in the world who are concentrat-
ing on the cultivated wheat$; Kihara in Japan, Riley in England,
MacKey in Sweden. Whitaker in California is a specialist on the
squashes and other cucurhits, Rick at Davis on the tomato and its
relatives. I understand that Darlington at Oxford is writing a
book covering the field. He is one of the few people in the world
who would have the nerve to do it. In the meantime you might be
interested in a smaller work entitled "Essays in Crop Plant Evolution"
edited by Sir Joseph Hutchinson and published by the Cambridge
University Press in 1965. Also there is a recent book in German
by Schwanitz entitled "Die Evolution der Kulturpflanzen" published
by Bayerischer Landwirtschaftsverlag, Michen Basel Wien which covers

a great deal of territory and has an extensive bibliography.

i)

With respect to the origins of agriculture I can tell you
that Sauer's ideas are not generally accepted and are not supported
by archaeological discovery. I wrote a critical review of his
book, "Agricultural Origins and Dispersals," some years ago. I
am enclosing a reprint of my review. In the light of recent arch-
aeological discoveries I could be even more critical now.

With all good wishes,

Sincerely yours,

Paul C. Mangelsdorf

enc