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From M. T. Masters   12 July 1862

Rye Lane | Peckham

July 12. 1862

My dear Sir

I shall be happy to give you a few memoranda I have made with reference to peloria in a day or two—1and thinking my Father might be able to communicate some information respecting comparative fertility of Peloria Gloxinias & other cultivated pelorias—I have written to him and will let you know the result—2 at present I have no peloria in my little garden— I write this now lest you should think I had overlooked your letter but for the reason I have mentioned and also because I hope in a day or two to have more leisure than I have at this moment I know you will excuse the delay—

Believe me Dear Sir | Yours faithfully | Maxwell T. Masters

CD annotations

Verso of last page: 36 1—16 37c 16 ink 3

Footnotes

1
CD was carrying out crossing experiments on the normally sterile flowers of pelargoniums, in order to explore the relationship between changes in plant structure and the incidence of sterility; he had written to Masters to ask him for assistance with experiments and for information on other peloric flowers (see letter to M. T. Masters, 8 July [1862]). No memoranda from Masters on this subject have been found, but see the letter to M. T. Masters, 24 July [1862].
2
At the end of the letter to M. T. Masters, 8 July [1862], Masters had written ‘fertility of Gloxinias peloriated with others’. His father, William Masters, was an expert hybridiser and owned a nursery in Canterbury, Kent (R. Desmond 1994). See also letter to M. T. Masters, 24 July [1862] and n. 6.
3
The annotation apparently records the payment, on 14 July 1862, of £37 16s. to a local farmer, George Edwards, for the purchase of a horse (CD’s Account book–cash account (Down House MS)); see also letter to W. E. Darwin, 4 [July 1862] and n. 10.

Bibliography

Desmond, Ray. 1994. Dictionary of British and Irish botanists and horticulturists including plant collectors, flower painters and garden designers. New edition, revised with the assistance of Christine Ellwood. London: Taylor & Francis and the Natural History Museum. Bristol, Pa.: Taylor & Francis.

Summary

Will be sending information on peloric plants from his father [William Masters] soon.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-3655
From
Maxwell Tylden Masters
To
Charles Robert Darwin
Sent from
Peckham
Source of text
DAR 171.1: 68
Physical description
ALS 2pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 3655,” accessed on 26 September 2022, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-3655.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 10

letter

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