CHAPTER IX 



BULBOUS PLANTS FOR THE HERB-GARDEN 



' When harvest is gone 

 Then Saffron comes on ; 

 A little of ground 

 Brings Saffron a pound. 

 The pleasure is fine, 

 The profit is thine. 

 Keep colour in drying, 

 Well used, worth buying." 



Bulbous plants that are admitted to the Herb- 

 garden are few. We need only speak of four. 

 They are Chives, Allium Schoenoprasum ; Squills, 

 Urginea maritima ; Crocus vernus, the True 

 Saffron, also known as Crocus sativus ; and Colchi- 

 cum autumnale, the Meadow Saffron, or Autumn 

 Crocus. 



Once we have grown Chives, we shall never like 

 to be without them. The dainty little bulbs are 

 never eaten, but only the green spikes that 

 shoot up from them in early spring. They are 



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