To Gardeners’ Chronicle   19 February [1877]¹

In the last number of the Gardeners’ Chronicle (p. 203) M^r Henslow quotes my words that “the seeds from which the self-fertilised plants of the third generation” (of Petunia) were raised were not well ripened.”² The word self-fertilised is a misprint for crossed, as he would have seen if he had looked to the full account of my experiments given at p. 191, where I say, “The sole conjecture which I can form is that the crossed seeds had not been sufficiently ripened, &c.”³ But I have no right to expect a critic to take so much trouble, and I am much obliged to him for having led me to detect this unfortunate misprint. Mr. Henslow then goes on to say that “M^r. Darwin also accounts for the greater growth of the eighth generation of Ipomœa from them having been raised from unhealthy seeds.” He ought, I think, to have added that the greater growth of the self-fertilised plants was confined to the early part of their lives, & that they were ultimately beaten in height by the crossed plants in the ratio of one hundred to eighty-five. It was this anomalous manner of growth which led me to compare these plants with those of Iberis which were raised from seeds not well ripened.⁴ I have long been convinced that controversy is a mere waste of time; I will, therefore, not make any other remarks on Mr. Henslow’s criticisms, though I think that I could answer them satisfactorily. I hope that any reader who is interested in the subject will not take Mr. Henslow’s interpretation of my statements without consulting my book.

Charles Darwin, February 19.