It is delicate and tasteful in form, and vari¬ 
ed and gay in color. Then it comes so very 
<early that it is doubly precious for cheering 
up the garden while all other flowers are 
yet sleeping. They will throw up their 
leaves before the frost is fairly gone, and 
along the fortieth parallel (my latitude) 
will flower in March, if in a sheltered lo¬ 
cality. 
LILIUM LONGIFLORUM. 
The Crocus must be planted in the fall. 
Cover the bulbs with about two inches of 
dirt, setting them three inches apart. 
Before winter sets in, cover the bulbs with 
a little litter—straw, coarse manure or 
some such substance. 
The Crocus flowers well in the house, but 
its season of bloom is so very short that it 
hardly g ves satisfaction: that, however, is 
not saying that it does not well repay for 
the trouble of cultivating. Half a dozen 
or more bulbs may be placed in a small 
pot or in a basket of moss. The bulbs may 
almost touch one another—they are sociable 
and will not complain at crowding. The 
bulbs may be left in the ground after flow¬ 
ering, or taken up and kept in some dry 
place for fall planting if desired. The Cro¬ 
cus comes to blooming so soon that I prize 
it on that account, alone, enough to grow 
it; and then it is so very cheap. 
It greatly adds to the beauty of a lawn in 
the spring to have a few Crocusses scattered 
over it. The leaves will be ripened before 
SINGLE TULIP. 
