From T. H. Farrer 16 June 1872
Abinger Hall, | Reigate. (Post Town) | Gomshall (Station) S.E.R.
16. June/72
My dear Mr Darwin
A practical, not scientific request. Mr Wedgwood tells me you have at Down some good “Forget me nots”—dissitiflora, I imagine.1 We have been unable to get them. Could your gardener give me some seed?
Hope also mentioned a fine anemone, the name I forget, which Miss Wedgwood had in her garden in plenty—2 I am a glutton for those things & go about picking & stealing.
There is a curious result of change of circumstances on a plant, which I have noticed here this year. There were some five hollies growing under high trees. I have cut down several of the trees & the hollies are exposed to the sun. & sky. Last year they fruited to an extraordinary extent, and the berries have made them look like red pyramids quite into summer— But they have exhausted themselves and are I fear dying from their exertions.
The same thing has happened to some boxes which I moved out of shade into sunshine, but to a better soil. The curious thing with them is that they grew well the first year and only this year have flowered themselves to death, the flowers appearing on every part of stem & branches
The Wedgwoods will I trust establish themselves here near us. It will be very pleasant to have them as neighbours—on many accounts—for myself & my daughter— And Effies songs reconcile me to the piano again3
Sincerely yours | T H Farrer
Footnotes
Bibliography
Freeman, Richard Broke. 1978. Charles Darwin: a companion. Folkestone, Kent: William Dawson & Sons. Hamden, Conn.: Archon Books, Shoe String Press.
Variation: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1868.
Wedgwood, Barbara and Wedgwood, Hensleigh. 1980. The Wedgwood circle, 1730–1897: four generations of a family and their friends. London: Studio Vista.
Summary
Asks CD for seeds of some plants.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-8390
- From
- Thomas Henry Farrer, 1st baronet and 1st Baron Farrer
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Abinger Hall
- Source of text
- DAR 164: 72
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 8390,” accessed on 14 August 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-8390.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 20