Ɛpsilon

To W. E. Darwin   5 February [1881]1

My dear W.

I think that the Leeds Corporation or the Leicester Corporation wd be best, & next the Canada Bonds.—2 My objection to latter is chance of war with U. States.— I have lost so much money in London & St. K. Docks. that I loathe the investment,—not that I really object—3

I have been hunting the Rhododendron beds & can find no leaves drawn in, & I imagine reason is the worms do not like peat.—4 The leaves of the varieties observed today, do not become nearly so much narrowed or infolded at their basal ends by withering, as did the leaves collected yesterday, in which the process was well marked.—

The worms are drawing in my triangles of card nicely, but enough have not yet been drawn in for any conclusion. I think that I shall try feathers.—5

Leonard has just arrived, I am glad to say. He looks well, but seems very chilly & is easily tired: his figure has become quite graceful.—6

Goodbye—dear old fellow | your affect Father | C. Darwin

Best of love to Sara.—7

Down. Feb. 5th—

1
The year is established by relationship between this letter and the letter from W. E. Darwin, 4 February 1881.
2
William had drawn up a list of companies in which CD might invest (see letter from W. E. Darwin, 4 February 1881).
3
Between 1876 and February 1881, the value of CD’s investment in the London and St Katherine Docks went down from £50 2s. 5d. to £40 1s. 1d.; by July 1881, it had dropped further to £33 8s. 3d. (CD’s Investment book (Down House MS), p. 163). Disputes between Bolivia, Peru, and Chile over nitrate territories had resulted in the 1879–83 War of the Pacific and affected the complicated trade arrangements concerning supplies of nitrates and guano between British, Continental, and American powers. Britain, having invested heavily in South American nitrate production, was likely to suffer the most from the war, and the British government hoped that a concerted effort by European powers and the United States might settle the situation. The US government, however, decided to act unilaterally, fearing British intervention. By early 1881, the distrust between London and Washington was at its worst. See Kiernan 1955.
4
Peat produces the acidic soil that rhododendrons require. CD thought that the differences in leaf shape exhibited by different varieties of rhododendron would provide the means to determine whether worms plugged up their burrows with the narrower end of a leaf regardless of whether this was the apex or the base (see letter from W. E. Darwin, 3 February [1881] and n. 4).
5
In Earthworms, p. 58, CD noted that worms drew in feathers to plug their burrows. For his experiments with card triangles, see the letter to W. E. Darwin, 4 February [1881] and n. 4.
6
Leonard Darwin had been ill in London (letter from Emma Darwin to Sara Darwin, [13 January 1881] (DAR 219.1: 140)).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.2 with] after del ‘of’
2.3 or infolded] interl
3.1 enough] above del ‘may no’
7.1 Down.… 5th—] pencil

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-13037,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-13037