To James Torbitt   28 March 1880

Down,

March 28, 1880.

My dear Sir

I am obliged for the correction of sum expended and have asked Mr. Caird to correct the figures in my Statement.1 Mr. Caird has written and seems satisfied with what I have said of your method and the results hitherto attained. He says “If Mr. Torbitt succeeds in getting a plant more than commonly capable of resisting the fungus we shall all be well repaid, and my friends and myself are perfectly satisfied to follow your lead in the matter”.2 I can now positively promise to send in the autumn £90 besides the £75 already sent; but I shall be very glad if you can manage to draw rather less, as I have told Mr. Caird’s friends that I believed you could do with less.3 Good fortune attend your efforts.

Yours sincerely | Ch. Darwin.

P.S. I now return all the documents together with your MS. which you had better preserve, as it may come in useful.4

Copy

1
CD had estimated Torbitt’s expenses on potato experiments at nearly £1000 (see enclosure to letter to James Caird, 24 March 1880. The letter from Torbitt amending this amount has not been found.
4
Torbitt had sent CD a report and testimonials on his breeding experiments.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-12552,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-12552