THE CROCUS. 
63 
if we examine tliem by the side of the many 
varieties which are the reverse of the standard, 
the most indifferent of us would be astonished 
at the superiority of one over the other. We 
have seen more than fifty named sorts in one 
collection, some of them broad in the petal, 
and when half expanded, touching eacli other, 
and forming a cup ; by the side of these we 
have seen others with very narrow, thin, 
and pointed petals, forming, when half ex- 
panded, a mean-looking star, poor and con- 
temptible as a flower, and not worth a place 
in the meanest wilderness, while the others 
could be had. The cultui'e of this flower is 
simple ; it is very hardy, no degree of cold 
seems to have the slightest effect on it ; and, 
although it grows finer in some soils than 
others, there is no kind but it will grow and 
flower in. 
TO GROW FOR INCREASE. 
Plant the finest bulbs that can be had, six 
inches apart every way, and four inches deep, 
a clear three inches of soil above the crown. 
They will do best in light sandy loam, and 
enriched by the addition of half its bulk 
of cow-dung, or the soil from cut turves, 
rotted ; they require neither protection nor 
water. They will come up in February or 
March of most seasons, bloom abundantly, 
and seed freely. At the autumn of the year, 
when the grass has turned off yellow, the pods 
of seed may be gathered in considerable quan- 
tities. The bulbs are not to be disturbed 
until the leaves have quite decayed, when 
they may be dug up, and the largest and 
finest are marketable ; the others may be 
replaced in the ground, or be "got rid of, as 
the case may be ; but for those who want 
increase, the longer they are planted, the 
more full-sized bulbs will be taken up. The 
question as to the depth of the bed has been 
variously answered by different writers ; but 
if there be a foot of good soil, they require 
no more, so that there is nothing absolutely 
poisonous under it. In this little routine of 
planting in October, or even earlier, and 
taking up in August, or even later, consists 
all that can be done for the Crocus. 
RAISING FROM SEEDS. 
A bed, prepared with a bari-owful of the 
loam of rotted turves, to half a barrowful of 
cow-dung, should be levelled and raked smooth 
on the surface in October. The seeds should 
be very thinly sown all over the bed, and 
carefully raked in so as to be covered ; but it 
is still better to sift some of the compost 
through a fine sieve upon the seed, so as to 
cover it a good quarter of an inch. In the 
spring, if not before, this seed will come up, 
and all that is required then is to carefully 
remove all the weeds ; this can only be safely 
done by hand, but if it be not done while the 
seedlings are young, the weeds will so com- 
pletely rob the little plants of the required 
nourishment, that there will be no hope of 
their recovering the check ; by early hand- 
weeding every thing is removed before it is 
large enough to do mischief. Vigilance must 
be continued all the year, so that no weeds be 
allowed for an unnecessary day to keep pos- 
session of the ground; and yet, with all the 
care and cleanliness that can be exercised, 
crop after crop of weeds will come up, and if 
they were allowed once to get ahead, their 
roots would tangle round the small bulbs, 
and drag them out of the ground. Thes.-', 
when they have died down, are to have half 
an inch of good soil, such as the bed is made 
of, covered over the surface, and again they 
will come up the second spring. At the end 
of this season they may be carefully taken up 
and planted in a fresh ground, composed of 
the same materials ; or if there be only one 
bed that can be appropriated, dig it well, to 
turn bottom to top, and carefully replant all 
the bulbs, two inches deep, and three inches 
apart. If there should be any very severe 
frost, a little litter of any kind thrown over 
the bed is useful ; not because the frost hurts 
the plants, but because the freezing and thaw- 
ing of the soil often makes it rotten, and it 
actually displaces the bulbs, and at best leaves 
them among spongy, hollow, and disturbed 
soil, and often breaks the fibres of the bulb. 
