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Darwin Correspondence Project

To James Torbitt   30 July 1877

Down,

July 30, 1877.

Dear Sir

Your letter seems to me very clear and good, and I hope that the Daily News will accede to your very liberal proposition. I do not take in this Paper. If therefore any Report is made will you kindly send me a copy?1 I would suggest an alteration in p. 3. your selection plan is more important probably than cross-fertilisation. Therefore I would suggest that your sentence should run somewhat as follows. “Mr. Darwin permits me to say that my plan, namely the preservation during successive generations of those seedling plants, all the tubers of which are sound, and the destruction of all other plants, in conjunction with cross-fertilisation, is in his opinion by far the most likely method by which to obtain a sound &c. &c. &c. &c.”

On p. 2 is not the statement that the difference can be seen at the distance of a “couple of miles” too strong?

Heartily wishing you success I remain, dear Sir, | Yours faithfully | Ch. Darwin.

Footnotes

Torbitt’s letter to CD has not been found. He presumably wanted to publish a notice in the London Daily News about his experiments in producing a blight-resistant potato (see, for example, Correspondence vol. 24, letter from James Torbitt, 7 April 1876). However, no such article was published in the Daily News in 1877.

Bibliography

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

Summary

Makes suggestions regarding statement on potato experiments to be published in Daily News.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-11081
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
James Torbitt
Sent from
Down
Source of text
DAR 148: 95
Physical description
C 1p

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 11081,” accessed on 19 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-11081.xml

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