Crocus. 
109 
In Greece this same floral belle grows in great profusion, 
covering the hill-sides with one beaming sheet of blue or gold, 
often colouring the landscape for many miles. 
Saffron is still highly valued by Eastern nations, and by 
them is used for manifold purposes. Letters of invitation to 
the gorgeous nuptial or other entertainments in which rich 
Orientals delight, are written upon paper flowered with gold 
and sprinkled with saffron. They also extract a very beautiful 
yellow from the crocus, which they use for the purpose of dye¬ 
ing. In the more unsophisticated villages of Greece, saffron 
is sold by the weight of a hen’s egg, and so simple are these 
dealings that it makes no difference in the terms whether the 
egg be large or small—so travellers report. 
The following lines allude to the phenomena of the different 
times of flowering invariably observed by the vernal and au¬ 
tumnal crocus : 
“Say what impels, amid surrounding snow 
Congeal’d, the crocus’ flaming bud to glow? 
Say, what retards, amidst the Summer’s blaze, 
Th’ Autumnal bulb, till pale, declining days? 
“The God of Seasons, whose pervading power’ 
Controls the sun or sheds the fleecy shower : 
He bids each flow’r His quick’ning word obey. 
Or to each lingering bloom enjoins decay.” 
