To Thomas Rivers 28 December [1862]1
Down. | Bromley. | Kent. S.E.
Dec. 28th
My dear Sir
Permit me to thank you cordially for your most kind letter.2 For years I have read with interest every scrap which you have written in Periodical & abstracted in M.S. your book on Roses,3 & several times I thought I would write to you, but did not know whether you would think me too intrusive. I shall indeed be truly obliged for any information you can supply me on bud-variation or sports.4 When any extra difficult point occurs to me in my present subject (which is a mass of difficulties), I will apply to you; but I will not be unreasonable. It is most true what you say that any one to study well the physiology of the life of plants, ought to have under his eye a multitude of plants. I have endeavoured to do what I can by comparing statements by many writers & observing what I could myself. Unfortunately few have observed like you have done. As you are so kind I will mention one other point on which I am collecting facts, namely the effect produced on the stock by the graft; thus it is said that the purple-leaved Filbert affects the leaves of the common hazel on which it is grafted (I have just procured a plant to try) so variegated Jessamine is said to affect its stock.5 I want these facts partly to throw light on the marvellous Laburnum Adami—Trifacial oranges &c. That Laburnum case seems one of the strangest in physiology: I have now growing splendid, fertile yellow Laburnums (with long racemes like the so-called Waterer’s Laburnum) from seed of yellow flowers on the L. adami.—6
I do so wish I could accept your invitation; I will see in Spring what I can do; but I suffer severely from ill-health of a very peculiar kind, which prevents me from all mental excitement, which is always followed by spasmodic sickness, & I do not think I could stand conversation with you, which to me would be so full of enjoyment. I send a little pamphet on a subject on which I am at work, & on which I shall soon publish some much more striking cases.— These cases show how little we yet know on fertilisation.—7
To a man like myself who is compelled to live a solitary life & sees few persons, it is no slight satisfaction to hear that I have been able at all interest by my books, observers like yourself.—
As I shall publish on my present subject, I presume within a year, it will be of no use your sending me the shoots of Peaches & nectarines which you so kindly offer; I have recorded your facts.—8
Permit me again to thank you cordially; I have not often in my life received a kinder letter.— | My dear Sir | Yours sincerely | Ch. Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
‘Dimorphic condition in Primula’: On the two forms, or dimorphic condition, in the species of Primula, and on their remarkable sexual relations. By Charles Darwin. [Read 21 November 1861.] Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society (Botany) 6 (1862): 77–96. [Collected papers 2: 45–63.]
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.
General index to the Journal of the Linnean Society: General index to the first twenty volumes of the Journal (Botany), and the botanical portion of the Proceedings, November 1838 to June 1886, of the Linnean Society. London: Linnean Society of London. 1888.
Rivers, Thomas. 1837. The rose amateur’s guide; containing ample descriptions of all the fine leading varieties of roses … The whole arranged so as to form a companion to the descriptive catalogue of the Sawbridgeworth collection of roses, published annually. London: the proprietor.
Rivers, Thomas. 1848. The miniature fruit garden, or the culture of pyramidal fruit trees; with instructions for root pruning, &c. 3d ed. London.
‘Three forms of Lythrum salicaria’: On the sexual relations of the three forms of Lythrum salicaria. By Charles Darwin. [Read 16 June 1864.] Journal of the Linnean Society (Botany) 8 (1865): 169–96. [Collected papers 2: 106–31.]
‘Two forms in species of Linum’: On the existence of two forms, and on their reciprocal sexual relation, in several species of the genus Linum. By Charles Darwin. [Read 5 February 1863.] Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society (Botany) 7 (1864): 69–83. [Collected papers 2: 93–105.]
Variation: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1868.
Summary
Thanks for letter [missing] and help.
Asks about the effect said to be produced on the stock by a graft.
Health prevents accepting TR’s invitation.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-3879
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Thomas Rivers
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Sotheby’s (dealers) (23–4 July 1987)
- Physical description
- ALS 7pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 3879,” accessed on 5 October 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-3879.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 10