Ɛpsilon

To James Torbitt   7 November 1879

Down,

Nov. 7, 1879.

My dear Sir

I wrote at considerable length yesterday to Mr. Farrer of the Board of Trade, with several extracts from your letter together with the printed documents.1 I said I thought it would be a national calamity if you were prevented from trying the successful varieties during a few years more and raising new varieties from them. I also said the case appeared to me a proper one for Government assistance. What Mr. Farrer will do I cannot of course tell but in a former note he said he thought Lord Sandon was the best member of the Government to consult.2 I was very much pleased to see in your last letter that you thought you had been quite successful in raising a fungus-proof variety, but pray do not be too sanguine until they have been tested during two or three seasons.3

With all good wishes believe me my dear Sir | Ch. Darwin.

1
CD’s letter to Thomas Henry Farrer has not been found (see, however, letter to T. H. Farrer, 23 October 1879). Torbitt had enclosed an extract from the Field with his letter of 4 November 1879.
2
Dudley Francis Stuart Ryder, Viscount Sandon, was minister for the Board of Trade (see letter from T. H. Farrer, 30 October 1879).
3
Torbitt was trying to breed a potato variety that was resistant to late potato blight (see letter from James Torbitt, 4 November 1879 and n. 8).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-12297,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-12297