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* direct »Letter 502 — Darwin, C. R. to Herbert, William, [c. 1 Apr 1839]
Questions on breeding of plants: variation in established versus new varieties; predominance of wild species and old varieties when crossed with newer forms; predominance of males versus females; correlations between ease of hybridisation and tendency to vary and undergo cultivation; reversion; correlations between hybridisation and geographic distribution. In WH's Amaryllidaceae [1837], does he intend to say crossing is inimical to fertility? [Sent via J. S. Henslow; note to amanuensis Syms Covington.]
* direct »Letter 503 — Herbert, William to Henslow, J. S., 5 Apr 1839
Replies to CD's questions on plant hybridisation and laws of inheritance. Rejects predominant transmission of characters by established forms. Males show predominance, but congeniality of parents' constitution to climate and soil more important. No correlation between hybridisation and variability, cultivation, and geographical distribution. Rejects reversion. Describes experiments in Hippeastrum in which pollen from another species proved more fertile than plant's own pollen. Did not intend to say that crossing is inimical to fertility.
* direct »Letter 668 — Darwin, C. R. to Lindley, John, 8 [Apr 1843]
CD sends seeds found by W. Kemp of Galashiels with explanation and request that they be planted and a report sent to him, so that Kemp may publish his discovery if results are interesting.
* direct »Letter 705 — Darwin, C. R. to Henslow, J. S., [14 Oct 1843]
CD has written to W. Kemp to ascertain what precautions he took in sowing his seeds. "It will be rather flat if you … pronounce the Atriplex to be merely a variety". Suggests sending plants to C. C. Babington.
* direct »Letter 711 — Kemp, William to Darwin, C. R., 4 Nov 1843
Thanks CD for kind letter concerning seeds. Believes soil in which they were planted was contaminated.
* direct »Letter 712 — Darwin, C. R. to Henslow, J. S., [4 Nov 1843]
Babington has reared a facsimile [of W. Kemp's Atriplex] by sowing seeds of A. angustifolia. CD has advised Kemp not to publish since anyone would say it was more probable that the seeds of his specimens were in the soil, than that the ones he found had retained vitality. CD regrets this, as he has no doubt of the antiquity of the seeds.
* direct »Letter 750 — Egerton, P. M. G. to Darwin, C. R., 5 May [1844]
Sends Lord Enniskillen's account of origin of the Irish yew: transplanted from the wild; propagated by cuttings thereafter. Offspring recently raised from seed are intermediate between common and Irish [weeping] yew.
* direct »Letter 756 — Darwin, C. R. to Gardeners' Chronicle, [before 8 June 1844]
Sends a quotation from de Vallemont's Curiosities of nature and art in husbandry and gardening (1707) showing that the value of saltpetre in manure and the advantage of steeping seeds in specially prepared liquid manure were well known at the time.
* direct »Letter 971 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D., [May 1846]
Interested in sterility of alpine plants in lowland and sterility of some plants in cultivation. Curious to see Galapagos paper.
* direct »Letter 1112 — Darwin, C. R. to Royle, J. F., 1 Sept [1847?]
Returns JFR's copies of Transactions [Agric. & Hortic. Soc. India]. Has not found quite as much as he thought he might on varieties of Indian domestic animals and plants; "the attempts at introduction have been too recent for the effects, if any, of climate to have been developed". Is impressed by the work of the English in India.