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To James Torbitt   10 January 1882

Down,

Jan 10, 1882

My dear Sir

I am sorry to hear that you have been unwell, and a failure of energy must be a new and distressing sensation to you.1 Upon the whole I hope that you are contented with your results, but it was a most unfortunate chance your having used the pollen of the weakly varieties. My gardener reported to me that these varieties were not attacked by the disease or only slightly, but that the yield was not good and the potatoes poor.2 I have not strength sufficient to attend to the deseased varieties which you are so kind as to offer me. Those which you say that you will send shall be planted. It is very noble conduct of you to return the subscription, if trade continues to improve. As far as I am concerned, I am quite content to remain unpaid, as I gave the money for what I considered to be an excellent object.3

I will forward your letter to Mr. Farrer and ask him if he thinks fit to forward it to Mr. Caird.4

With all good wishes, I remain, my dear Sir | Yours very faithfully Ch. Darwin.

You can use my name or not, just as you think fit, in any application to Government; but the Government seems very slow even in moving in such affairs.5

Copy

1
Torbitt’s letter has not been found.
2
Torbitt had been trying to breed potato varieties that were resistant to blight; he had sent CD potatoes for planting in March 1881 (see Correspondence vol. 29, letter from James Torbitt, 10 March 1881). CD’s gardener was Henry Lettington.
3
CD had helped raise subscriptions to support Torbitt’s experiments (see Correspondence vol. 28, letter to James Torbitt, 6 March [1880]); he had also given Torbitt £100 (see Correspondence vol. 26, letter to James Torbitt, 31 March 1878).
4
See letter to T. H. Farrer, 10 January 1882. Thomas Henry Farrer and James Caird had worked with CD to obtain financial assistance for Torbitt in previous years (see Correspondence vols. 26 and 28).
5
Torbitt had previously applied for government support (Correspondence vol. 28, letter from James Torbitt, 15 December 1880).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-13608,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-13608