To T. H. Farrer   5 March 1880

Postscript Mar 5^th. 1880.¹

I have re-read my letter dated Mar 7 1878 & have nothing to withdraw.² I may add that I have read two letters published by strangers in a Belfast newspaper, who declare, after examining M^r Torbitt’s ten-acre field, that there is the greatest difference between the several varieties in their liability to the disease, & that some seem to have quite escaped.³ M^r Torbitt himself assures me that some of the varieties are entirely free from the fungus, both in their foliage & tubers. But as young varieties seem to resist the disease better than those which have been long cultivated, it is especially desirable that these should be cultivated for several more generations, & that fresh seedlings should be raised from them. M^r Torbitt informs me that his business has been so unprofitable of late that he cannot continue his experiments, which are, & must be, very expensive, by his own means alone, as he had originally hoped to do.⁴

I may repeat my conviction that no one else is likely to undertake so laborious a task as the selection & cross-fertilization of the plant during many successive generations. As this letter may be seen by strangers, I will add that I have no sort of pecuniary interest in M^r Torbitt’s success. He is personally unknown to me, but his letters have inspired me with so much confidence, & his plan seems so much more hopeful than any which has ever been tried, that I have been glad to aid him to a small extent with funds.⁵

Unless M^r Torbitt is assisted immediately with a few hundred pounds, he will be compelled, as he informs me, to sell his whole stock of potatoes; & this to the best of my judgment would be a national misfortune & disgrace

Charles Darwin