Ɛpsilon

To William Kemp   22 November [1843]

Down near Bromley Kent

Nov 22d

Dear Sir

I am pleased how good a case your facts have make.— Your last letter with an account of your manner of planting &c &c was very useful.—1 You will perceive the bearing of some of your facts by reading the article on Agyptian Wheat in the accompanying Gardeners Chroni⁠⟨⁠cle⁠⟩⁠ which please to return to me.—2 You will think I have greatly curtailed your paper, I am certain that a short paper with no theory is desirable in this case. Please to make any corrections o⁠⟨⁠r⁠⟩⁠ remarks or improvements on a separate piece of paper, & I will introduce them.3 I have written to Professor Henslow to le⁠⟨⁠arn⁠⟩⁠ what your doubtful plant was, & will make ⁠⟨⁠any⁠⟩⁠ alteration which may be desirable—4 I propose to send your paper to the Annals of Natural Histo⁠⟨⁠ry⁠⟩⁠ with a request for its early insertion (proba⁠⟨⁠bl⁠⟩⁠y it can not be admitted for 5 or 6 weeks)5 & for a few copies for yourself— I hope you will be satisfied with my abstract, which I have tak⁠⟨⁠en⁠⟩⁠ pains with & will correct, when in type.— The paper is not geological enough for the Geological Soc.—

Believe me | With good wishes | Yours very faithfully | C. Darwin

P.S. You will observe that I have introduced a few remarks not in your papers, which I thought desirable, which I do not doubt you will excuse6

Postmark: 22NO22 | 1843

1
See Correspondence vol. 2, letter from William Kemp, 10 November 1843. Kemp explained in this letter that he had planted his seeds in rows.
2
An article about wheat grown from seeds found in Egyptian mummies’ tombs was printed in Gardeners’ Chronicle on 11 November 1843, pp. 787–8.
3
CD’s draft of the paper (Kemp 1844) is in DAR 50: 1–6. It is primarily made up of passages extracted from the letters from William Kemp of 2 October 1843, 17 October 1843, 4 November 1843, and 10 November 1843 (Correspondence vol. 2).
4
CD refers to John Stevens Henslow. See Correspondence vol. 2, letter to J. S. Henslow, [4 November 1843].
5
The paper was published in Annals and Magazine of Natural History in February 1844 (Kemp 1844).
6
For CD’s draft, with alterations, see Correspondence vol. 2, Appendix VI.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.7 or improvements] interl
1.7 piece of] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-715F,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-715F