To Gardeners’ Chronicle 13 July [1848]1
Potatoes in my field have been seized by the disease in its most virulent form, giving out a nauseous smell, perceptible in an adjoining field;2 C. Darwin, Farnborough, July 13.
Footnotes
The year is established by the date of publication of this letter in Gardeners’ Chronicle.
Potato blight, caused by the oomycete (water mould) Phytophthora infestans, appeared in the British Isles in 1845, leading to the Irish potato famine of 1846 (Salaman 1985, p. 291).
Bibliography
Salaman, Redcliffe Nathan. 1985. The history and social influence of the potato. Revised edition by J. G. Hawkes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Summary
Reports on the effect of potato blight in his crop.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-1189F
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Gardeners’ Chronicle
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Gardeners’ Chronicle, 22 July 1848, p. 491
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 1189F,” accessed on
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 30 (Supplement)
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