32 FLORA HISTORICA. 



As it may greatly assist the cultivator of flowers 

 to understand the physiology of plants, and more 

 particularly of such bulbs as increase in the earth 

 bv their viviparous powers, we notice those of the 

 most singular habits, which, we trust, will not be 

 found uninteresting to the general reader ; as by 

 want of attention to the time and mode of the in- 

 crease of bulbs, many plants are naturally lost by 

 the ignorant gardener, who frequently cuts off the 

 leaves of Crocuses when past flowering, for the sake 

 of neatness. This is a fatal error, as it weakens 

 their power of perfecting the new bulb, and conse- 

 quently of flowering the following year ; for whilst 

 the fibrous roots assist by suction the nourishment 

 of the future plant, the leaves contribute to it in a 

 no less degree, by their means of absorption and 

 exhalation — for that gas forms a most vital principle 

 in the vegetable kingdom, is clearly ascertained by 

 the known quantity of carbonic acid which green 

 leaves take in during the day, and the portion of 

 oxygen they give out in a state of gas during the 

 night. Thus the leaves of plants are to vegetables 

 what the lungs are to the animal creation. The 

 bulb is merely a body that protects the heart, or 

 germ, from outward injury, whilst it receives and 

 contains the necessary nourishment to form a new 

 plant; and when it has filled its stores, the fibrous 

 roots and the foliage have their communication 



