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To W. B. Tegetmeier   28 March [1861]1

Down Bromley Kent

March 28

My dear Sir

I am in truth grateful to you for so frankly & kindly acquiesing in my proposal & request.2 My M.S. will not be ready for a considerable time, as I work abominably slowly from many reasons.—

I can see that I shall have many points to investigate; & as you have opportunity you can investigate them; & I will have no scruple in asking, as you with real & true kindness will allow me to make up for your loss of time. You will have to endeavour to give me some idea of how much time I cause you to lose.—

Hearty thanks for what you have already done & written about Rabbits & Malays.— In rabbits my skeleton work has much interested me.— I am glad to hear that you are going to write on Hen-tailed cocks.3 By an odd coincidence, yesterday I was thinking of an experiment which I shd. like to see tried, viz to cross a cock Hamburgh Hen-tail & Seabright Hen tailed-Hen,4 & see whether the Hen-tail wd be inherited under such trying circumstances; & likewise to see effect on colour of chickens.— I would gladly pay all direct & indirect expences, but I know it is very troublesome with poultry to make such crosses, & so hardly worth while. I would do it myself; but I have more experiments with plants in Hand, than I fear with my poor health I can attend to.—

With cordial thanks | Yours sincerely | C. Darwin

If you do not hear, you will understand that your skulls have come safe.—

The skulls have arrived & Live Rabbit—5 Cordial thanks—

Footnotes

1
The year is given by the reference to CD’s manuscript on fowls for Variation, which he finished in 1861. See ‘Journal’ (Correspondence vol. 9, Appendix II).
2
CD had asked Tegetmeier to read and make comments on the chapter on fowls that he was preparing (see letter to W. B. Tegetmeier, 22 March [1861]).
4
See letter to W. B. Tegetmeier, 2 April [1861]. Sebright fowl were named after their breeder, John Saunders Sebright (DNB).

Bibliography

Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.

DNB: Dictionary of national biography. Edited by Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee. 63 vols. and 2 supplements (6 vols.). London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1912. Dictionary of national biography 1912–90. Edited by H. W. C. Davis et al. 9 vols. London: Oxford University Press. 1927–96.

Tegetmeier, William Bernhard. 1861. Undescribed variations in plumage. The Field, the Farm, the Garden, the Country Gentleman’s Newspaper 17: 313.

Variation: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1868.

Summary

Thanks for agreeing to read MS.

Outlines poultry breeding experiment he would like to see tried.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-3103
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
William Bernhard Tegetmeier
Sent from
Down
Source of text
Archives of the New York Botanical Garden (Charles Finney Cox Collection)
Physical description
ALS 4pp †

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 3103,” accessed on 30 March 2023, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-3103.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 9

letter

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