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To J. T. Moggridge   1 October [1867]1

Down Bromley

Oct. 1.

Dear Mr. Moggridge

I am much obliged to you for telling me of your expected departure and kind offer of assistance, but I have been working all the summer so hard at proof sheets, that I have attended to nothing else, and therefore I have no favour to beg.2

I hope you will pass a pleasant winter and that your health will improve.3 I suppose and hope that you will still attend to ophrys. As there did not seem any probability of the plants which you so kindly gave me undergoing any greater modification, I sent them to Kew where they are much valued.4

The plants of Ononis have interested me much.5 Should you have any opportunity I shall be much obliged if you will make further enquiries about the spontaneous crossing of vars. of common and sweet Peas.6

Believe me

Footnotes

1
The year is established by the reference to plants sent to Kew (see n. 4, below).
2
No letter from Moggridge to CD announcing his departure has been found. Moggridge spent winters in France (see n. 3, below), and regularly offered CD assistance with botanical research, often sending seeds and plant specimens (see Correspondence vols. 12–14, and this volume, letter from J. T. Moggridge, 22 April [1867]). CD was correcting the proofs of Variation and had planned to begin work on second proofs at the beginning of October (see letter to J. V. Carus, 16 September 1867).
3
Owing to chronic ill health, Moggridge spent most winters at Mentone (now Menton), a town on the French Riviera near the Italian border (R. Desmond 1994).
4
Moggridge had sent CD specimens of different varieties of Ophrys in December 1865 and February 1866 (see Correspondence vol. 13, letter from J. T. Moggridge, 27 December [1865], and Correspondence vol. 14, letter from J. T. Moggridge, 15 February [1866]). ‘A quantity of Ophrys insectivora’ (i.e. Ophrys insectifera, the fly orchid), is recorded as having been received from CD at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, along with several other plant specimens, on 7 September 1867 (Inwards book, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew); see also letter from J. D. Hooker, [14 September 1867] and n. 2). For more on CD’s interest in Ophrys varieties, see Correspondence vol. 13.
5
CD was interested in the unopened (later called cleistogamic) flowers of Ononis. Moggridge sent CD seeds of O. columnae in July and August 1866, and seeds of O. minutissima in November 1866 (see Correspondence vol. 14, letters from J. T. Moggridge, 5 and 6 July [1866], 3 August [1866], and 9 November [1866]). In a note dated 8 May 1867, CD described the flowers of O. columnae and O. minutissima raised from seed sent to him by Moggridge (DAR 111: A21). CD discussed his experiments with O. minutissima in Cross and self fertilisation, pp. 167–8, and his experiments with O. columnae and O. minutissima in Forms of flowers, pp. 325–6.
6
Moggridge had promised CD that he would try to get evidence of spontaneous crossing in peas (see Correspondence vol. 14, letter from J. T. Moggridge, 9 November [1866]; see also ibid., letter to J. T. Moggridge, 13 November [1866]).

Bibliography

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

Cross and self fertilisation: The effects of cross and self fertilisation in the vegetable kingdom. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1876.

Desmond, Ray. 1994. Dictionary of British and Irish botanists and horticulturists including plant collectors, flower painters and garden designers. New edition, revised with the assistance of Christine Ellwood. London: Taylor & Francis and the Natural History Museum. Bristol, Pa.: Taylor & Francis.

Forms of flowers: The different forms of flowers on plants of the same species. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1877.

Variation: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1868.

Summary

Hopes JTM’s health will improve.

Asks for information about crosses of peas.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-5638
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
John Traherne Moggridge
Sent from
Down
Source of text
DAR 146: 376
Physical description
C 1p

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 5638,” accessed on 18 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-5638.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 15

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