From James Torbitt   3 April 1878

58 North Street. | Belfast,

3 April 1878

Charles Darwin Esq. | Down.

My dear Sir,

I accept of your £100 check with the greatest pleasure and am not in the least discouraged or disappointed, on the contrary, I propose this year to grow not five, but fifteen thousand new varieties, for every plant of which, your money shall pay— and I am proud that it should do so.1

I remain my Dear Sir ever | Most respectfully | and gratefully yours | James Torbitt

1
CD had sent a cheque for £100 on 4 March to aid Torbitt’s attempts to breed a disease-resistant potato; Torbitt had returned the cheque when he discovered that he would only need two later payments of £50 in May and August (see letter to James Torbitt, 4 March 1878, and letter from James Torbitt, 24 March 1878). CD, however, sent the cheque for £100 back to Torbitt after Thomas Henry Farrer explained the difficulty of getting government funding for the experiments (see letter to James Torbitt, 31 March 1878).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-11462,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-11462