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Darwin Correspondence Project

From J. H. Gilbert   5 June 1881

Harpenden, | St. Albans

June 5 1881

Dear Mr. Darwin—

I hope you will not think me an incorrigible bore, if I once more say how very much delighted Mr Lawes and myself would be if you could pay Rothamsted a visit within the present month?1 It is just at this season that our “Grass-Experiments” are at their best for inspection; and although the agricultural result is not very promising, I think the differences among the 20 plots, now in the 26th season of experiment, are perhaps as striking as ever, as illustrating the vast influence of external conditions on the character and results of the struggle between the numerous components of an established mixed herbage.

And it is just before the time of cutting the “grasses” that the other field experiments begin to be of interest.

We had intended to propose Saturday June 18 to Professor Asa Gray, who, before he left for the Continent expressed a wish to come down, but I gather from Sir Joseph Hooker that it is uncertain whether he will then have returned to this country.2 Would that day be convenient to yourself? In that case Mr Lawes, who has not yet the pleasure of your acquaintance, begs me to say it will give him much pleasure to see you at Rothamsted, to dine and sleep, the night before; so as to lessen your fatigue. In case Asa Gray were available, we should ask him and Sir J. Hooker for the Saturday, but should keep the party very limited, unless you felt that it would not be more fatiguing, and that it would be agreeable to meet other naturalists on the ground? This would be arranged entirely as you might prefer. Or what other day in the following week would suit you better?

I am, My Dear Sir, Yours sincerely— | J. H. Gilbert

CD annotations

Top of letter: ‘This is so wonderfully cordial a letter that I have thought you wd. like to see it.’ pencil

Footnotes

John Bennet Lawes had founded the Rothamsted Experimental Station near St Albans, Hertfordshire, in 1843. He and Gilbert instituted several long-running experiments on crop and animal nutrition (ODNB).
Asa and Jane Loring Gray and Hyacinth and Joseph Dalton Hooker had travelled to Italy in the spring of 1881 (see letter from J. D. Hooker, 24 February 1881 and n. 3). The Grays then went to France, Switzerland, and Germany in May and June 1881 (J. L. Gray ed. 1893, 2: 720–1).

Bibliography

Gray, Jane Loring, ed. 1893. Letters of Asa Gray. 2 vols. London: Macmillan and Co.

Summary

Invites CD to visit Rothamsted. The experimental plots are at their best "as illustrating the vast influence of external conditions on the character and results of the struggle between the numerous components of an established mixed herbage".

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-13196
From
Joseph Henry Gilbert
To
Charles Robert Darwin
Sent from
Harpenden
Source of text
DAR 165: 44
Physical description
ALS 4pp †

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 13196,” accessed on 28 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-13196.xml

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