MEADOW SAFFRON. 409 



are prepared to receive it in the three-lobcd cap- 

 sule ; and as the season of the year would not 

 allow the fruit of this late-flowering plant to 

 ripen so as to multiply its kind, Providence has 

 so contrived its structure, that it may be per- 

 formed at a depth within the earth out of the 

 reach of the usual effects of the frost ; and as 

 seeds buried at such a depth are known not to 

 vegetate, a no less admirable provision is made 

 to raise them above the surface when they are 

 perfect, and to sow them at a proper season. 

 For this purpose the seed-vessels are lodged in 

 the bosom of the embryo leaves, and are con- 

 sequently thrust forth with the foliage about the 

 month of April. By the end of May they are 

 generally ripe, and the leaves then wither and 

 the root decays, having finished its duties not 

 only by its oviparous nature, but by having at 

 the same time given birth and nourishment to a 

 new bulb in the earth by its viviparous powers. 

 The new bulbs take their rise from the caudex 

 at the base of the flower-tube, and are united by 

 communicating vessels to the old bulb, from the 

 juices of which the new bulbs extract their nutri- 

 ment, until the parent-bulb decays, as is the 

 case in the Tulip. The Colchicum has generally 

 perfected its new bulb by the middle of May, 



