To Thomas Rivers [9 May 1863]1
Leith Hill Place | Dorking
Saturday 10th
My dear Sir
I am very much obliged for the little peaches, which have been forwarded to me here,2 where I am staying for a little change for health sake; but I shall return home in 3 or 4 days.— I am doubtful, whether the fruit will stick on the Chinese Double Peach which you gave me so kindly.—3 Therefore I should esteem it a very great favour if you would send me, when ripe, a couple of the Double Chinese & Honey Peach.—4 As for almonds I must buy varieties in the shell.—5
That was a curious monstrosity sent of the Wall-flower; the stamens seem converted into pistils with apparently good ovules.— I hope you will see whether it seeds: I shd. like to grow the seeds & see if so curious a monstrosity is hereditary.—6
My dear Sir | Yours very sincerely | C. Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Knight, Thomas Andrew. 1817. An account of a peach tree, produced from the seed of the almond tree, with some observations on the origin of the peach tree. [Read 7 October 1817.] Transactions of the Horticultural Society of London 3 (1820): 1–5.
Variation: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1868.
Summary
Doubts the fruit will stick on his Chinese double peach and asks TR to send him a couple when ripe.
Would like to grow seeds of the "curious monstrosity" of a wall-flower, to see whether the monstrosity is hereditary.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-4150
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Thomas Rivers
- Sent from
- Leith Hill Place
- Source of text
- DAR 185: 84
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 4150,” accessed on 31 August 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-4150.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 11