Ɛpsilon

To Francis Darwin   [before 1 August 1880]1

[Down.]

My dear F.

I have just been reading a notice (& must refer to several original German papers) on very ancient furrowed fields in Germany & Scandinavia & Scotland—believed to be prehistoric.2 They are on mountain sides & apparently at a considerable elevation.— Did you not tell me of some such old furrowed land in N. Wales. I wish you wd. enquire & have a look at any such place. It is a bad time of year, & too soon for many castings. Could you take a light spade & see if you can find worms? If such places are not distant wd. Mrs Atkins3 look in Autumn at them & see if there are castings on the old furrowed land? If there are many, it is a most serious difficulty in the way of my belief of the smoothing power of worms.— I see in my notes I cd. see no castings where there is much Heath growing: Is this true? I have been miserably compelled to take up my worm-notes.

C. D.—

Are there more castings at the bottom of the furrows than on the summits or convex part?

Thanks for today’s pleasant acct4 | ED

1
The date is established by the relationship between this letter, the letter to Francis Darwin, 28 July [1880], and the letter from Francis Darwin, [1 August 1880].
2
CD refers to Edward Burnett Tylor’s presidential address to the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, in which Tylor discussed recent archaeological work on German ‘high-fields’ and their similarity to Scottish ‘elf-furrows’ and tilled plots in Swedish forests (Tylor 1880, p. 451). CD cited Tylor 1880 in Earthworms, p. 293 n.
4
This sentence was added at the top of the letter by Emma Darwin. The letter containing the pleasant account has not been found; it may have been addressed to Emma.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.2 & Scotland] interl
1.5 soon] interl
1.7 such places are] interl above del ‘spot’
3.1 Are … part? 3.2] added in margin pencil

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-12645,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-12645