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Darwin Correspondence Project

To John Scott   [after 8 January 1868]1

Dear Sir—

As you have asked my opinion, on the advantages of removing the C.B.G. to some other site,2 I have no hesitation in expressing a clear answer that numerous & great benefits wd be conferred on science by this step— I have always understood that the present Gardens stand at an extremely low level; & are therefore obviously unfitted for the culture of many plants as the conditions of life cannot fail to be of a [illeg] nature   I conceive the chief advantage of a B.G. is to favor the importation & naturalisation of plants. plants foreign to the country where the Garden is established & the exportation of indigenous plants cultivated in the garden to other countries; with this aim as well as for the general scientific & experiment wd be an immense advantage if the Garden were situated near the Himalaya, so that plants requiring different climate, soil & [nutrients] could be observed cultivated & propagated.3

As the garden has now been so [relatively cleared] away seems particularly favourable opportunity for any change., which may be delivered

I beg leave to remain | Dear Sir | Yours very faithfully | C. D.

Footnotes

The date is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from John Scott, 8 January [1868].
The reference is to the Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta. See letter from John Scott, 8 January [1868].
Thomas Anderson and John Scott’s efforts to relocate the garden were unsuccessful (see McCracken 1997, pp. 100–1).

Bibliography

McCracken, Donal P. 1997. Gardens of empire: botanical institutions of the Victorian British empire. London and Washington: Leicester University Press.

Summary

Supports relocating the Calcutta Botanic Garden to a site near the Himalayas.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-5352
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
John Scott
Sent from
Down
Source of text
DAR 177: 116v
Physical description
ADraftS 1p (on 5351)

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 5352,” accessed on 19 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-5352.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 16

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