From James Torbitt 7 June 1880
Belfast
7th. June 1880
Charles Darwin Esq. | Down.
My dear Sir,
Please to accept of my best thanks for your information regarding pollen, and for your advice, which shall be acted on.1
The work is good, but in a national point of view, it is quite too slow, and besides, I want to repay everyone as well as myself, for what has been and shall be done. I wish therefore, if you Sir, and Mr Farrer approve of it, to make the following specific propositions to the Government,2
First. for a consideration of one pound per variety, I would propose to grow during the coming season (1881) one hundred thousand thrice crossed varieties of the potato, and hand them over to the Agricultural societies of the Kingdom for distribution.
Second. I would undertake that all these varieties should be of marketable appearance, of excellent qualities, and so prolific and so free from “the disease” that, after separating all unsound tubers, they would give a larger yield, than the old varieties give, of sound and diseased tubers taken together.
Third. I would propose that the Government send a Commissioner to inspect the twice-crossed varieties now growing, when they are in bloom, and when they are being dug up, and also to see the principles of cross-breeding and selection as applied to this years seedlings, in order to judge whether it is probable I should be able to carry out last proposition.
Fourth. I would propose that, under a vote of the House of Commons, one twentieth of the money (one shilling per variety) be paid in advance, the remaining nineteen twentieths to be held in reserve, as a guarantee fund against any failures in the varieties—that is, that all varieties which might fail to conform to fore going description should not be paid for.
And should these propositions seem to be practical, perhaps Mr Farrer would speak to Mr Chamberlain on the subject?3
Curiously enough, Mr Forster’s (secretary for Ireland) father was a friend and guest of the father of the gentleman who is now growing these new crossed potatoes for us.4
I remain | my dear Sir | most respectfully & faithfully yours | James Torbitt
Footnotes
Bibliography
ODNB: Oxford dictionary of national biography: from the earliest times to the year 2000. (Revised edition.) Edited by H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. 60 vols. and index. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2004.
Summary
Sets out specific propositions concerning his potato varieties, which he will make to the Government, if he is given CD’s and T. H. Farrer’s support.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-12622
- From
- James Torbitt
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Belfast
- Source of text
- DAR 178: 166
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 12622,” accessed on 19 October 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-12622.xml