From T. H. Farrer 11 July 1875
Abinger Hall, | Wotton. Surrey
11.7.75
My dear Mr Darwin,
Staying with my friend Rothery one day this week we amused ourselves with watching Drosera, abundant on the common close by.1 It struck us that it would be interesting to try whether when fed with animal food it does better than when without it— The experiment is so obvious that it must have occurred to you, and you have very likely found difficulties.2
We thought we might put some plants into wet bog-earth or sand: covering some so as to keep insects from them: and leaving others uncovered. Then of the covered some might be artificially fed with white of egg &c: and some left without.
Then one must see how much to give—call in Andrew Clark in fact, so as not to encourage gout: since I see they can be overfed by your experiments.3
Then ought they not to flower & fruit. The animal food may have to do with the maturing seed, may it not?
Then will it do to take plants from the common—or ought one to gather seed and grow them from it?
These and other questions occurred to us. But I thought first of all I would write and ask whether you think the experiment possible and worth trying at all.
It is curious—after all the cruelty in Nature—to find that one feels a pang at seeing a wretched fly struggling for hours in the unfeeling remorseless grasp of this harmless looking plant. If Drosera is fertilized by insects it is the most depraved creature in existence adding ingratitude to cruelty
You have left us in good time.4 It is almost wintry here today— so windy cold & ungenial. Noel & Miss W. have found the house dull after your departure—but Effie & Ida will be back in a week from tomorrow5
Sincerely yours | T H Farrer
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Insectivorous plants. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1875.
Summary
Asks CD’s opinion of an experiment on Drosera.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-10058
- From
- Thomas Henry Farrer, 1st baronet and 1st Baron Farrer
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Abinger Hall
- Source of text
- DAR 164: 79
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 10058,” accessed on 18 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-10058.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 23