From James Torbitt   30 April 1879

Belfast

30th April 1879

Charles Darwin Esqr. | Down.

My dear Sir.

With profound respect, if anything could stimulate me to energetic action it would be your approval, but I have no energy, only some tenacity of purpose.

To report—I have had an account of my experiments published, have got rid of the varieties of 1875, excepting a few which are too good to be destroyed, these and the crossed varieties of 1877/8 I have planted to the extent of ten acres.1

The varieties of last season (1878) crossed in the second generation, are now growing healthily from selected heaviest and largest seed, and I am at present pricking out from the seed beds into boxes 7000 of the most vigorous. For cost of these your remittance is amply sufficient, I having had all the appliances necessary for their growth on hand previously2   I am pushing the principle of selection much farther, and protecting the seedlings more carefully than ever before:

On yesterday I had the honor and the pleasure to send to you some specimens—first a whole variety of last season once crossed—second some tubers of a once crossed variety of 1877 which seems to be good—third a few tubers of a variety of 1876, not known whether crossed or not, this variety is exceedingly strong in the stems and produces tubers of the size of the specimens, the “runner” then continues a few inches beyond this tuber (not through it, the tuber being evidently an enlargement of the runner) and produces a second tuber of about an inch in diameter, and in every instance which I have observed the first tubers have been free from the parasite and in many instances the second tubers have been infested.3 Of the varieties of 1877 I have many like this.

Lastly in the large bags are two differentiated specimens of one variety of 1875 marked respectively Black 75 No 1 and Black 75 No 2, with a description of the behaviour of which, I shall venture to trouble you tomorrow, and I am satisfied it will be found interesting, at least as being curious.4

I am My dear Sir | Most respectfully & faithfully yours | James Torbitt

CD note:5

My dear Sir— | I am very [pencil above del pencil ‘hearty’] glad to hear a good report of your experiments; & I shall *some time [transposed from after ‘see’ pencil] like to see your published report. I have no practical [interl] knowledge [‘of’ del ] about potatoes but the specimens which you have sent seem to me very fine & healthy.— *(The curious case) [square brackets in ms] *about the [black var seems very] & I suppose was [6 words illeg] the crossing. I presume the [‘great’ del ] extraordinary variation from the tubers is from the true crossed parents [added pencil before del pencil ‘Bees very surprising’] | bud-variation [pencil] | I will plant— Kew no use.— *It wd be no use to send the specimens to Kew. [pencil] | I have been working rather too hard of late & leave home on Tuesday for 3 weeks for some rest & therefore [4 words illeg] 5th | No one can wish [ ‘you’ del] more *more heartily for your complete success [pencil below del pencil ‘success’] than I do

1
Torbitt was attempting to produce a blight-resistant potato; he destroyed his earlier seeds because he believed that even healthy varieties tended to degenerate after a few years (see Correspondence vol. 26, second letter from James Torbitt, 24 March 1878; DeArce 2008, pp. 209 and 211). He published an account of his experiments in the Field in March 1879 (Torbitt 1879).
2
CD had funded some of Torbitt’s experiments in 1878 (see Correspondence vol. 26, letter from James Torbitt, 3 April 1878).
3
The potato-blight fungus, Phytophthora infestans, infects the leaves of the potato before moving down to the tubers.
4
On the Black 75 potato, see the memorandum from James Torbitt, 1 May 1879.
5
CD’s note is a draft of his reply (letter to James Torbitt, 3 May 1879).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-12020,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-12020