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Darwin Correspondence Project

To T. H. Farrer   13 March 1878

Down. | Beckenham Kent (&c.)

March 13th. 1878.

My dear Farrer.

I send my letter of the sight of which you must be sick; you say that you can easily get it copied in London, and will you kindly have it done.1 I would have sent it to my copyist,2 but this would have caused delay, as he works only late at night, I hear from Hooker that he has written to you, & that he approves of Mr Torbitt’s plan, He tells me that the Tomato growing near potatoes, was badly affected at Kew; and this is a very unfavourable fact.3 Whatever you & Mr Caird4 may decide to do. I will agree to gratefully. A friend of the Litchfields has been making very careful enquiries from various persons in Belfast about Mr Torbitt; & reports that he is a wine & spirit merchant, & esteemed highly respectable & wealthy. He owns many public houses in Belfast   He is believed to have spent a great deal of money on his potato experiments.5

My dear Farrer. | Yours sincerely. | Ch. Darwin

Footnotes

The enclosure was a copy of CD’s earlier letter about James Torbitt’s potato experiments, with further revisions suggested by Joseph Dalton Hooker (see enclosure to letter to T. H. Farrer, 7 March 1878, and letter from J. D. Hooker, 12 March 1878). Farrer had offered to have copies made in his first letter of 9 March 1878.
CD had previously employed Ebenezer Norman as a copyist.
No letter from Hooker on this subject has been found.

Summary

Hooker approves of Torbitt’s plan [concerning potato experiments]. Torbitt, wine and spirit merchant in Belfast, highly respectable.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-11421
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
Thomas Henry Farrer, 1st baronet and 1st Baron Farrer
Sent from
Down
Source of text
DAR 144: 94
Physical description
C 1p

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 11421,” accessed on 23 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-11421.xml

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