To M. J. Berkeley   11 April [1855]

Down Farnborough Kent

April 11.

My dear Sir

I am extremely much obliged to you for your most kind present of the extremely curious Peas, which are quite a treasure to me.1 All the kinds are new except the Q. of the Dwarfs.—2 It seems wonderful that the seed-raisers in France can keep the “Pois geant sans parchemin” true,3 but I suppose they do succeed by raising bodies together. If by any chance you happen to know on this head I shd. very much like to know but I am ashamed to ask you to take so much trouble: & if, as is probable, you know nothing I shall understand it so by not hearing.

I felt that it was a mere chance whether you had Gærtner’s facts so distinctly in your head as to give me your opinion. And indeed I ought not to have troubled you with so long a letter; but it is a great temptation to write about what one is much interested on.—

With my very sincere thanks | Believe me | Yours sincerely & obliged | Charles Darwin

2
CD described the varieties of peas used in his crossing experiments and his results in Variation 1: 326–30.
3
One of the varieties of peas described by Berkeley in Gardeners’ Chronicle and Agricultural Gazette, no. 25, 24 June 1854, p. 404 n. See letter to M. J. Berkeley, 7 April [1855].

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.6 I am] after del ‘I t’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-1665,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-1665