Ɛpsilon

To M. T. Masters   7 August [1874]1

Bassett | Southampton.

Aug. 7th

My dear Sir

I am glad the Hop interests you. ⁠⟨⁠I⁠⟩⁠ just glanced at the female flowers but saw no stigmas! ⁠⟨⁠The⁠⟩⁠re were numerous almost loose small angular bodies, which I did not look at with a high power, but imagined might be ovules. These wd. be worth your attention.2

I shall be proud to appear in an engraving in the Gardeners’ Chronicle, whenever you may think fit.3

My dear Sir | yours very faithfully | Ch. Darwin

I have come here for 3 weeks for complete rest.—4

1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from M. T. Masters, 6 August 1874.
2
Leyson Lewis had sent CD a specimen of a monoecious hop (see letter from Leyson Lewis, [before 6 August 1874] and n. 2).
3
See letter from M. T. Masters, 6 August 1874; the portrait appeared with an article by Masters in Gardeners’ Chronicle, 6 March 1875, pp. 308–9.
4
CD stayed with his son William Erasmus Darwin, at Southampton, from 30 July to 24 August 1874 (CD’s ‘Journal’ (Appendix II)).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

0.1 Bassett | Southampton.] after del ‘Down, | Beckenham, Kent.’
4.1 for 3 weeks] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-9593,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-9593