Ɛpsilon

From John Abberley (Darwin gardener)1 and R. W. Darwin   18 October 1841

Sir

I have gather the seed Peas but i dount see heney new kinds at all in them as the came up true to the sorts the Woodford Peas is Mildew i have all the sorts by themselves

Beans

I have not gather all the seed of the Beans & I think the [ fan] bean is in Clind to be a Mule for some of the seeds are tinge with green on the Edges2

Thyme

I gather a Little thyme seed but it is verrey Poor the wet as been against it ripeing But i have cut some of the flowers to dry & verrey Liklea thear might be some seeds in it

the Cucumber that the insects carred Pollen tou i have cut oppen but not one seed was in it the Horther that I dusted with the Pollen had plenty of seeds in it

I have tow moore furit which the insects have dust with Pollen as soon Sir that the are Redy i will Let you hear about them

Abberly has just given me the above letter to read and as he is busy I told him he had not make any conclusion as I would direct it for him. he has something more to say, but it shall be added to some letter of your sisters.

Your affecti— father | R W D 18 Oct 41

1
In CD’s Account Book (Down House MS) for 19 July 1841, Abberley is listed together with other members of the household staff at The Mount.
2
In his Questions & experiments notebook (Notebooks) CD has ‘Get Abberley to plant single Peas, Kidney Bean & Bean, intertwined, *without sticks [interl]—in reference to what Mr Herbert observe on this subject—’ (DAR 206: 11). There are further references to Abberley on pp. 10a, 14.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-610,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-610