Dear Sir

I am ashamed to have allowed your letter to have remained so long un-answered but the fact is I have as long as possible deferred acknowledging even to myself the amount of real information I have gained from experiment during the last year.¹ It has indeed been a year of trial to me and mine, God grant we may not have another like it.² Leaving family matters out of the question I have still had no end of difficulties to contend against. In the first place the only bit of ground I could get was ten minutes walk away from my living house, and even for that I had to pay a rent which to one in my situation is something serious. The garden when I got it contained nothing but a few Snap-dragons, (of which anon)   The next difficulty was how to obtain plants   I could not afford to buy but was not ashamed to beg. I went to Kew early in the season, but could not see Dr Hooker who was good enough to say before I left that he would give any plants I might require.³ I may perhaps be over-modest, but some day I shall summon courage to ask him for some. I obtained at the time some ferns for a Wardean case⁴ and two or three conifers, but no herbaceous plants. I know from experience how strict their rules are and will not press upon them.— I have been very kindly aided by the curator of the Liverpool and some other botanic gardens from whom I hardly expected it.⁵ Their presents have however for the most part been in seeds and therefore this years work has been to raise them.

My Linum grandiflorum has been very fine and confirmed your statements with regard to it. L. flavum in my case has come true but not many plants of it.⁶ As I had no means of pushing it on in heat in the spring I did not expect to see it flower this season. It will I have no doubt stand the winter and come into bloom early next year.

The Antirrhinums, being the only thing I had to my hand early in the season, were put through a series of little experiments.⁷ The lip closes firmly enclosing stamens and stigma and one might naturally expect it to be ordinarily self-fertilized and perhaps it may be. The common honey-bee never goes to it so far as I have been able to observe   the humble bee however (or some large sp. of bee   I am afraid to speak upon entomological subjects to you) is very fond of it. He invariably settles on the lower lip and if his weight is not sufficient to force it down he puts one leg against the upper and pushes it open. His proboscis goes in and his head comes out covered with pollen, and off he goes to the next. I castrated some flowers marked them and as might have been expected they produced seed as though nothing had been the matter. The next thing was to find if they would do so when the bees were excluded. They have done so but not so perfectly, the details are still unrecorded but I shall weigh seed and I shall try the experiment again.

For my next experiment I was obliged to fall back upon seeds. and somehow the Plantagos took my fancy.⁸ I had seen a var. of P. major which produces a rosette of leaves instead of a spike of flowers. What induced the plant to do this I wanted to know. I took one and planted him in good soil, took care that he had no struggle for existance, fed him on the fat of the land, and hoped for the result. It produced no less than 180 very fine spikes of flowers, instead of ten or a dozen, and three times the usual size, the foliage fine and not inclined to keep flat upon the ground (which is a selfish habit in the family no doubt intended to keep as much space as possible to themselves should they require it)   But the only modification was that the lower bracts were very much developed, being quite leaves 2 inches long at the base of spike.— I went out for a walk one day and to my infinite disgust I found a plant of P. lanceolata which without any artificial help had produced a rosette of leaves at the top of the flower shoot instead of flowers. True the plant was luxuriant and growing by the side of the canal. I took it up planted it in my garden and found that it produced a few flowers among the leaves. I have carefully raised plants from these seeds to see if they will exhibit the same character next year to any extent. The rosette I pegged down to see if it would root and make a plant of itself   it has not done so yet but it is as fresh as ever although it was three months ago that I brought it home. I have since received one or two curious varieties of Plantago from Liverpool and Mr. Borrer’s gardener⁹ and shall follow them up, though I dont see what they are to prove.— It is astonishing how selfish P. media is, its leaves are pressed quite hard upon the soil and anything covered by them actually rots.

A good many little experiments have been dead failures but they have not disheartened me, they have only whet my appetite and roused my temper to the extent of saying that I would not be beaten next year if my health be spared so long. Among other things I tried to hybridize Tropæolum canariense with the dark var of T. Major without results. All the Orchids hereabouts I have compared with your observations and I need not tell you with what result. I did not expect to find anything different   I only wanted to understand the subject properly.—¹⁰

Did I tell you that I think there is a possibility of finding an intermediate form in the common Primrose. Out of a handful I gathered (one from each plant) last April—13 were long styled—29 short styled, and there was one decidedly intermediate— It may have been only an accidental form as I had only the one flower. Next season I shall examine them as they are gathered.¹¹

I have not heard how the series of experiments I commenced at Kew upon the deterioration of vegetables and serials is going on.¹² Prof. Oliver I have seen several times since but not to spend much time with him.¹³ I suppose you know of those which have been conducted by Mr. Lawes at Harpenden for some years past.¹⁴ I have lately had a friend of mine stopping with me for a week who was engaged there for some months previously and I have been much interested in his descriptions of their wonderful experiments.

Trusting that I may have a better account to give of work done next year I must now bring this long and I fear uninteresting letter to a close with the hope that it will find you in better health.

I remain, Sir, | yours most respectfully | C. W. Crocker

C. Darwin Esq.^r