From M. T. Masters   12 July 1862

Rye Lane | Peckham

July 12. 1862

My dear Sir

I shall be happy to give you a few memoranda I have made with reference to peloria in a day or two—1and thinking my Father might be able to communicate some information respecting comparative fertility of Peloria Gloxinias & other cultivated pelorias—I have written to him and will let you know the result—2 at present I have no peloria in my little garden— I write this now lest you should think I had overlooked your letter but for the reason I have mentioned and also because I hope in a day or two to have more leisure than I have at this moment I know you will excuse the delay—

Believe me Dear Sir | Yours faithfully | Maxwell T. Masters

CD annotations

Verso of last page: 36 1—16 37c 16 ink 3
1
CD was carrying out crossing experiments on the normally sterile flowers of pelargoniums, in order to explore the relationship between changes in plant structure and the incidence of sterility; he had written to Masters to ask him for assistance with experiments and for information on other peloric flowers (see letter to M. T. Masters, 8 July [1862]). No memoranda from Masters on this subject have been found, but see the letter to M. T. Masters, 24 July [1862].
2
At the end of the letter to M. T. Masters, 8 July [1862], Masters had written ‘fertility of Gloxinias peloriated with others’. His father, William Masters, was an expert hybridiser and owned a nursery in Canterbury, Kent (R. Desmond 1994). See also letter to M. T. Masters, 24 July [1862] and n. 6.
3
The annotation apparently records the payment, on 14 July 1862, of £37 16s. to a local farmer, George Edwards, for the purchase of a horse (CD’s Account book–cash account (Down House MS)); see also letter to W. E. Darwin, 4 [July 1862] and n. 10.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-3655,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-3655