Darwin Correspondence Project

Down Farnborough Kent

Ap. 19^th

My dear Hooker

Thank you for your List of R.S. candidates, which will be very useful to me.—

I have thought a good deal about my salting experiments, & really think they are worth pursuing to a certain extent, but I hardly see the use (at least the use equivalent to the enormous labour) of trying the experiment on the immense scale suggested by you.— I sh^d think a few seeds of the leading orders, or a few seeds of each of the classes mentioned by you with albumen of different kinds w^d suffice to show the possibility of considerable sea-transportal. To tell whether any particular insular Flora had thus been transported would require that each species sh^d be examined. Will you look through these printed lists, & if you can mark with red cross, such as you would suggest. In truth I fear I impose far more on your great kindness, my dear Hooker, than I have any claim; but you offered this, for I never thought of asking you for more than a suggestion. I do not think I could manage more than 40 or 50 kinds at a time, for the water I find must be renewed every other day, as it gets to smell horribly: and I do not think your plan good of little packets of cambric, as this entangles so much air. I shall keep the great receptacle with salt-water with the 40 or 50 little bottles, partly open, immersed in it in the cellar, for uniform temperature.— I must plant out of doors, as I have no green House.—

I told you I had inserted notice in Gardeners Chronicle; & to day I have heard from Berkely that he has already sent an assortment of seeds to Margate for some friend to put in salt-water; so I suppose he thinks the experiment worth trying as he has thus so very promptly taken it into his own hands.— Reading this over it sounds as if I were offended!!! which I need not say is not so.—

I may just mention that the seeds mentioned in my former note have all germinated after 14 days immersion, except the cabbages all dead, & the Radishes have had their germination delayed & several I think dead; Cress still all most vigorous.— French Spinach, oats, barley, Canary-seed, Borage, Beet have germinated after 7 days immersion.—

It is quite surprising that the Radishes sh^d have grown, for the salt-water was putrid to an extent, which I c^d not have thought credible had I not smelt it myself, as was the water with the cabbage-seed.—

Most truly your's | C. Darwin

I lean to the notion of taking the list of introduced plants in Asa Gray just as it stands, but wait till I hear from you to calculate: tell me whether you care to hear result.—