From Samuel Newington 30 August 1875
Ridgeway | Ticehurst.
30th August 1875
Dear Sir:
I sh: much like you to see a bird I have here, to which the enclosed description refers.1 I have also a vine I think you would take an interest in. it is the Madresfield Court; a large oval grape, inarched on the Black Hamburgh, both vines growing on their own roots. The type ie, the B Hamburgh. has got the better of the sport, the M Court: the berries on the MC being quite round & the flavour changed to that of the B Hamburgh.2 I have several other things which I think would interest you. I see a train leaves Sevenoaks at 2-37. & arrives at Wadhurst at 3-25, where I could send to meet you.3
I find that if the type be cut off from the sport, the sap of the type causes the oval grapes of the sport to be spherical for one year, but not afterwards.
believe me | Yrs Faithfully | S Newington.
Footnotes
Summary
Reports a competition between the air roots of two varieties of grapevines. The victor changed the flavour and shape of the loser’s fruit.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-10140
- From
- Samuel Newington
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Ticehurst
- Source of text
- DAR 172: 34
- Physical description
- ALS 2pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 10140,” accessed on 19 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-10140.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 23