19^ CULTIVATED VEGETABLES. 



the French, la mort, of the bulb. Before 

 M. du Hamel had made this discovery, 

 (for which the world, as well as the crocus 

 planter, have to thank him,) its terrible ef- 

 fects were felt without the cause being at 

 all divined. It seems a sort of contagion 

 among these plants, spreading far and wide, 

 and extending from one root as from a centre 

 all over a whole field, if not stopped ; the 

 season of its most fatal spreading is the 

 spring, and the progress of the mischief is 

 found to be stopped, by digging deep trenches 

 at that time of the year between the sound 

 and the tainted parts of the field. 



M. du Hamel discovered, that the bulbs 

 of the saffron were destroyed by a parasitical 

 plant, which grows very quick in its glan- 

 dules ; and by means of thready filaments 

 sucks the nutritious juices from the roots 

 of the saffron. This enemy of the crocus 

 seems to grow in the same manner as the 

 truffle, without appearing above the surface 

 of the earth, but is produced under ground, 

 and there grows and propagates its species. 

 It spreads very fast, and soon occupies a 

 large compass of ground, continually fur- 

 nishing new glandules at the end of the 

 filamentous roots, in the manner of the 



