To Charles Turner   [1 April – 16 June 1863?]1

Sir

I hope that you will excuse the liberty which I take in asking from you information on one small point, with permission to quote your name as my authority in a work which I am preparing for publication.2 I have found that the varieties of several kinds of Hollyhock come true from seed;3 now what I am anxious to know is, whether you find it necessary to grow the different varieties far apart from each other, in order to prevent crossing & to get true seed.— As I have repeatedly watched Bees carrying pollen from one variety to the other, I cannot understand how the seed can be true, unless the plants are grown very far apart: & yet I have been told that this plan is not always followed.—4

If you will have the kindness to answer me this question, I shd. feel extremely much obliged. I should, also, be glad to know which varieties you have found come truest by seed.—5

Hoping that you will excuse the liberty which I have taken & grant this favour I beg leave to remain | Sir | Your obliged servant

Draft

1
The date is conjectured from the reference to CD’s work on the draft manuscript of Variation (see n. 5, below). According to his ‘Journal’ (Correspondence vol. 11, Appendix II), CD prepared a draft of the section on ‘Crossing & Sterility’ (Variation 2: 85–144) between 1 April and 16 June 1863.
2
CD refers to Variation, which was eventually published in 1868.
3
CD had been seeking information on hollyhock breeding for some time (see Correspondence vol. 2, letter from William Herbert to J. S. Henslow, 5 April 1839, and Correspondence vol. 5, letter to J. S. Henslow, 12 November 1855 and n. 2). See also Natural selection, pp. 65, 71, Origin, p. 271, and Correspondence vols. 8 and 9. See DAR 157a, p. 1, for CD’s experimental notes on hollyhocks. CD had recently encouraged Charles William Crocker to undertake hollyhock experiments (see Correspondence vol. 10, letter from C. W. Crocker, [before 13 March 1862], and this volume, letter from C. W. Crocker, 1 May 1863).
4
See Correspondence vol. 8, letter from William Masters, 8 May 1860, and Variation 2: 107–8.
5
Turner’s reply has not been found, but information from him on crossing in hollyhocks is given in Variation 2: 107–8.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.1 asking] above del ‘begging’
1.1 from you] after del ‘a small’
1.4 of several kinds of Hollyhock] interl
1.4 Hollyhock] after del ‘of the’
1.4 true] after del ‘fr’
1.6 to prevent crossing &] interl
1.6 As] altered from ‘as’
1.7 Bees] after del ‘the’
1.8 have been told that 1.9] above del ‘believe’
2.1 answer] above del ‘answer’
2.1 feel] below del ‘be’
2.2 which varieties] above del ‘whether’
2.2 come] after del ‘many of the varieties’
3.1 & grant this favour] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-3886,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-3886