From James Torbitt   [1879?]1

1879 Seedling, Crossed in 1876 and again in 1878.2 Growth was retarded by the unfavourable season, and arrested by the destruction of the foliage by the parasite.3 Excepting under glass I have found no variety the foliage of which can resist the attack of the parasite.

AL incomplete

1
The year is conjectured from the reference to an 1879 seedling.
2
Since 1876, Torbitt had been corresponding with CD about his attempts to breed a blight-resistant potato, and occasionally sending specimens (see Correspondence vols. 24–6). He previously sent seedlings (including an ‘1875 seedling’) shortly before his letter of 26 June 1878 (Correspondence vol. 26).
3
The year 1879 was exceptionally cold and wet (Gardeners’ Chronicle, 27 December 1879, p. 820). In his letter of 4 November 1879, Torbitt wrote that his statement that all foliage of the current year’s seedlings had been destroyed by the parasite was a mistake. The parasite responsible for potato late blight is Peronospora infestans (a synonym of Phytophthora infestans), a species of oomycete or water mould parasitic on the potato.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-11814,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-11814