To James Digues La Touche 14 May [1863?]1
Down, Bromley, Kent. S.E.
May 14th
Dear Sir
I am extremely much obliged for your very kind note and excellent drawing.2 The case does interest me much.3 Analogous cases have been recorded; but they are very rare. Your accurate account shows me that here, as (unfortunately) in almost every other case there is a doubt whether these parti-coloured fruits are really due to a bud formed at the point of junction of graft and stock, or whether it be not a variation analogous to a striped petal. In the case of peaches half nectarines, there is no reason to believe that the result is due to grafting; but in some other cases the evidence does point in this direction.4
With very sincere thanks for your kindness. Pray believe me, Dear Sir, In Haste | Yours very faithfully | Ch. Darwin
In one account of an apple half and half it is asserted that such fruit never yielded seed though other fruit on tree did yield seed.5 I presume that it would be impossible for you to enquire from owner of Tree in Canada whether this was case.
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Variation: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1868.
Summary
Thanks for drawing and note about peach–nectarine.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-4166
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- James Digues La Touche
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- DAR 146: 34
- Physical description
- C 1p
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 4166,” accessed on 23 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-4166.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 11