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Darwin Correspondence Project

To W. T. Thiselton-Dyer   26 [July 1877]1

Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.

26

My dear Dyer

The plants have arrived & most of them in excellent condition,—a few somewhat crushed.—2 We will take all the care we can of them.—

It is hopeless & useless to thank you for such kindness.—

We were much pleased with the Russian, though I did not see him for a long time, as it was a rather bad day with me.—3

It will be a shame & a sin if we do not make out about bloom, but I am very very doubtful.4

Ever yours sincerely | Ch. Darwin

Footnotes

The year and month are established by the reference to Kliment Arkadievich Timiryazev’s visit to Down (see n. 3, below), and by the relationship between this letter and the letter from W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, 25 July 1877.
Timiryazev visited Down on 25 July 1877; Thiselton-Dyer had furnished him with a letter of recommendation to Francis Darwin, and warned him that he would be unlikely to be able to see CD himself. His account of the visit is in Timiriazev 2006.
CD and Francis were interested in bloom, the powdery or waxy coating on some plants (see letter to Fritz Müller, 14 May 1877 and n. 2).

Bibliography

Timiriazev, Klimint. 2006. With Darwin at Down. With a letter by L. N. Bell. Archipelago 9: 44–58.

Summary

Thanks for the plants.

Is doubtful whether he will make out anything about "bloom".

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-11072
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
William Turner Thiselton-Dyer
Sent from
Down
Source of text
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Darwin: Letters to Thiselton-Dyer, 1873–81: f. 78)
Physical description
ALS 1p

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 11072,” accessed on 23 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-11072.xml

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