From James Buckman 10 October 1864
Bradford Abbas, | Sherborne. | Dorset.
Octr. 10. 1864.
My dear Sir,
I am sorry I have not an old book by me with the note you ask for on planting Kidney Beans1 but I may just give you the Gloucestershire directions for sowing this crop though in all probability you have heard it before— When the Elmen leaf is as big as a farding | ’Tis time to sow kidney beans in the garding | When the Elmen leaf is as big as a penny | You must sow your beans if you aim to have any.
I always went by this rule on the Cotteswolds which made me about a fortnight later than the vale of Gloucester, at Cheltenham say—
This rule guided me at my new residence at Bradford Abbas this year2 & I think the difference in climate may be represented pretty nearly by saying we sow K. beans On the Cotteswolds the 1st. week in May | In the Vales— the 3rd week in April | In Dorset & the South the | 2nd week in April.
These Rhyming directions I hope you will conclude are by no means bad as they are at least climatal.
I am as above for a few years with a nice residence & farm— I have an experimental garden—3 Can I help you at all in any pursuit
Hoping you will excuse my thus troubling you | I am yrs very truly | James Buckman
Chas. Darwin Esq.
CD annotations
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
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.
Sayce, Roger. 1992. The history of the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester. Stroud, Gloucestershire: Alan Sutton.
Variation: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1868.
Summary
Sends a poem about sowing kidney beans.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-4631F
- From
- James Buckman
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Source of text
- DAR 271.6: 1
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 4631F,” accessed on 28 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-4631F.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 12