My dear Hooker

Please to give my very sincere thanks to Sir William: I truly hope the gift will not inconvenience him, for the loan would have done very well, though assuredly not nearly so well as his very kind present.¹ I feared my request might have sounded like begging but I really did not know any other conceivable channel of borrowing.

I thank you much for all that you have done for me: I wish I could ever do any troublesome job for you & I would do it with heart & soul.—

On account of coldness of ground I shall not begin my salting for about 14 days, which will have extra advantage of finishing off my present tentative attempts. In answer to your question,² all seeds sink after the first few hours except Beet from its spongy envelope: I shake the seeds well to favour the sinking.—

You are a good man to confess that you expected the crop w^d be killed in a week, for this gives me a nice little triumph. The children at first were tremendously eager & asked me often “whether I sh^d beat D^r. Hooker?”!!

The cress & Lettuce has just vegetated well after 21 days immersion.— But I will write no more, which is a great virtue in me for it is to me a very great pleasure telling you everything I do.—

Adios | C. Darwin

You will have heard all about Royal from Bell.—

If you knew some of the experiments (if they may be so called) which I am trying, you would have a good right to sneer for they are so absurd even in my opinion that I dare not tell you.³

Have not some men a nice notion of experimentising? I have had a letter telling me that seeds must have great power of resisting salt-water, for otherwise how could they get to islands?⁴ This is the true way to a solve a problem!