CROCUS DAHLIA. 47 



CROCUS. 



"Glad as the spring, when the first Crocus comes 

 To laugh amid the shower." 



The Spring Crocus is a very common bulbous-rooted plant, 

 of which there are many varieties annually imported from 

 Holland, and sold at very low prices. The most prominent 

 sorts are the great yellow, deep blue, light blue, white with 

 blue stripes, blue with white stripes, white with a purple 

 base, pure white, cloth of gold, &c. It flowers in April, and 

 in warm seasons, in sheltered places, frequently in March. 

 Where there is a plenty of them, they make a magnificent 

 show. The bulbs are small, solid, and flat. They should be 

 planted, in September or October, about one inch or one and a 

 half inches deep, in any good garden soil. They are very hardy, 

 and the only difficulty is their liability to be thrown out by the 

 frost, when the ground is bare, towards spring. To remedy 

 this evil, some light substance should be thrown over them, to 

 shade them from the action of the sun. After flowering, when 

 the leaves have decayed, the roots may be taken up, and kept, 

 until they are wanted to plant in autumn, in some cool, dry 

 place ; or they may remain in the ground a number of years 

 without removing. 



DAHLIA. 



"In queenly elegance the Dahlia stands, 

 And waves her coronet." 



The Dahlia is a native of Mexico, found on the table lands 

 of that country, and I have sometimes wished it had been let 

 alone there, "to waste its sweets on the desert air." It is so 

 capricious in its flowering, so subject to the ravages of insects, 

 so much influenced by too much heat, or too much dryness, or 

 too much wet ; and then, just as it begins to give promise of 



