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Darwin Correspondence Project

To Adolf Reuter   27 September 1869

Down. | Beckenham | Kent. S.E.

Sep. 27. 1869

Dear Sir

I am very much obliged for your extremely courteous letter, & for your valuable notes together with the specimens.1

It is very good of you to take so much trouble for my sake.

I shall give several of your notes in any future edition of my work. The facts about grafting & budding are perhaps the most important.2 But the case of the great difference in hardiness in the varieties of the Syringa Persica has particularly struck me. The varieties themselves are also very curious.3

Dr Hooker of Kew happened to be staying here, & I shewed him your specimens, several of which were new to him.4

With my best thanks for your very great kindness I beg leave to remain dear Sir | yours very faithfully | Charles Darwin

Footnotes

Reuter’s experiments on grafting potatoes are mentioned in Variation 2d ed., 1: 422, but this information is cited from a published source. Reuter did not mention potatoes in his notes with his letter of 23 September 1869.
CD had mentioned Syringa persica (Persian lilac) in Varation 2: 164 in a discussion of the effects of climate on fertility. See letter from Adolph Reuter, 23 September 1869 and n. 8.

Bibliography

Variation 2d ed.: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2d edition. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1875.

Summary

Thanks AR for specimens and notes. Will keep them for future edition [of Variation]. Particularly struck by difference in hardiness of varieties of Syringa persica.

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 6912,” accessed on 28 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-6912.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 17

letter