To W. T. Thiselton-Dyer   26 [July 1877]1

Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.

26

My dear Dyer

The plants have arrived & most of them in excellent condition,—a few somewhat crushed.—2 We will take all the care we can of them.—

It is hopeless & useless to thank you for such kindness.—

We were much pleased with the Russian, though I did not see him for a long time, as it was a rather bad day with me.—3

It will be a shame & a sin if we do not make out about bloom, but I am very very doubtful.4

Ever yours sincerely | Ch. Darwin

1
The year and month are established by the reference to Kliment Arkadievich Timiryazev’s visit to Down (see n. 3, below), and by the relationship between this letter and the letter from W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, 25 July 1877.
3
Timiryazev visited Down on 25 July 1877; Thiselton-Dyer had furnished him with a letter of recommendation to Francis Darwin, and warned him that he would be unlikely to be able to see CD himself. His account of the visit is in Timiriazev 2006.
4
CD and Francis were interested in bloom, the powdery or waxy coating on some plants (see letter to Fritz Müller, 14 May 1877 and n. 2).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-11072,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-11072