From T. H. Farrer   30 October 1879

Abinger Hall, | Dorking. | (Gomshall S.E.R. | Station & Telegraph.)

30 Oct/79

My dear Mr Darwin

I have been very busy and have kept your papers about potatoes till I could read up the old papers— Now I cannot distinctly remember what Caird & I proposed to do a year & half or more ago.1

I think I could interest Lord Sandon in the case, but am not sure what it is that it would be well to do at present—2 Is it to get a Govt grant: or a subscription? What do you think?

Has not Mr Torbitt now some distinct further results to shew?

What do you think is best to be done? I will gladly do anything I can

Ever yrs sincerely | T H Farrer

Horace has just left with Ida after a very pleasant visit.3 We relieved ourselves by calling them “the young donkeys”—a name given by a Lancashire friend. We are deeply disappointed that Godfrey is too ill to take them in.4 That visit pleased us particularly.

1
See letter to T. H. Farrer, 23 October 1879 and n. 2; CD had asked for help for James Torbitt, who was trying to breed blight-resistant potatoes. In 1878, CD, Farrer, and James Caird had tried to obtain government support for Torbitt’s experiments (see Correspondence vol. 26).
2
Dudley Francis Stuart Ryder, Viscount Sandon, was minister for the Board of Trade, where Farrer was permanent secretary.
3
Horace Darwin was engaged to marry Ida Farrer; he had gone to spend a few days with her on 25 October (see letter to Horace Darwin, 23 October [1879]).
4
Godfrey Wedgwood was Emma Darwin’s nephew, and had married his cousin Hope Elizabeth Wedgwood, the sister of Farrer’s second wife, Katherine Euphemia Farrer.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-12279,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-12279