Ɛpsilon

From A. S. Wilson   27 February 1879

North Kinmundy, | Summerhill, | by Aberdeen.

27 Feby. 1879.

Charles Darwin, Esq. F.R.S. | Down | Beckenham | Kent.

Dear Sir,

I have now the pleasure of submitting to you my first years experiments with the two Russian wheats you were good enough to send me last April.1 You will see that as yet I have found no alteration taking place on the forms of these wheats; and that I think the explanation of the observed change of crop is to be found in that principle of your great Theory by which the strongest and most fertile push aside the weaker and less fertile—

If you approve of the publication of the report, with any alterations you may be kind enough to make, the suggestion of the best medium would be a much esteemed obligement. I am so much out of the world here.2

Of course I intend going on with the experiment this season, using the seed of my own crop and endeavouring to take some measures against the red rust.3 I do not think that any of the seeds I planted in autumn have ever come through the ground; and as the ⁠⟨⁠s⁠⟩⁠now is still lying several inches deep, I have not got another trial made—

I may mention that I did not think it necessary to write to Dr. Asher, the matter being put before me in your letter in such a way as to give all the information I thought required.4

I am | Dear Sir, | yours very truly, | A. Stephen Wilson.

1
CD had sent varieties of Russian wheat (locally known as Kubanka and Saxonka) with his letter to Wilson of 24 April 1878 (Correspondence vol. 26). In the regions where these varieties were grown, Kubanka was thought to degenerate into Saxonka with no intermediate types after two years.
2
Wilson’s manuscript has not been found but his report was published in Gardeners’ Chronicle, 24 May 1879 (Wilson 1879); a proof copy is in the Darwin Pamphlet Collection–CUL.
3
In wheat, the leaf rust known as red or brown rust is caused by a fungus, Puccinia recondita; it produces orange-brown uredina (fruiting bodies), primarily on the upper surface of the leaves, which cause early loss of affected leaves.
4
Georg Michael Asher had arranged for the Russian wheat seeds to be sent to CD; see Correspondence vol. 26, letter from G. M. Asher, 16 February 1878.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-11906,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-11906