114 FLORA DOMESTIC A. 



above the top : foi' one root, a pot three inches wide will 

 be large enough ; four roots may be planted in a pot of 

 six inches in diameter. They should be kept moist ; which 

 will require more or less water, according as they are in 

 the sun or the shade, the room or the balcony, &c. : they 

 will continue longer in blossom if watered rather sparingly 

 after they have begun to blow. These bulbs will like- 

 wise flower in water : they may be put into the glasses 

 any time from October to January, and thus be continued 

 in succession. The water should rise a little above the 

 widening of the glass ; and from the time the fibres begin 

 to shoot, should be renewed every four or five days. 



The Autumnal Crocus does not increase so fast as the 

 Spring kinds, nor does it produce seeds in this country. 

 It should be replanted in August, as it flowers in Sep- 

 tember or October. These Crocuses will produce hand- 

 somer flowers if the bulbs be left undisturbed for two or 

 three years ; but they must not remain more than three. 

 When it is not intended to remove them every year, more 

 room must be allowed them for the growth of the offsets. 



Virgil speaks of the Crocus as one of the flowers upon 

 which bees love to feed : 



pascuntur et arbuta passim. 



Et glaucas salices, casiamque, crocumque rubentem, 

 Et pinguem tiliam, et ferrugineos byacinthos." 



Virgil, Georgic 4. 



" They feed also at large on arbutes and hoary willows, and cassia, 

 and glowing saffron, and fat limes, and deep-coloured hyacinths." — 

 Martyn's Translation, p. 372. 



