the white flower, with a narrow red rim round the nectary, which we often see in the spring flower-bed. It deserves cultivation, for its beauty justifies its name. It grows wild in some parts of England, but is not very common. Several of the amaryllidæ are ornaments of the conservatory, and display the most brilliant colours. CHAPTER XII. CROCUS-ASPECT OF GARDEN DURING WINTER-GARDEN CROCUS MEADOW CROCUS-CROCUS IN GREECE-IN SAFFRON-WALDEN-USES OF SAFFRON IN THE EASTYELLOW DYE OF SEVERAL PLANTS-MODE OF SELLING SAFFRON IN GREECE-YELLOW IRIS-"SWETE CLOTHE" OF THE REIGN OF ELIZABETH. Like lilac-flame its colour glows, Mrs. Howitt. THE several spring-blooming species of garden crocus derive less of their attraction from their purple or golden colours, than from their early appearance. They spring up from the earth when as yet its surface is but little variegated by the numerous flowers of later months. The garden crocuses, indeed, appear much less beautiful than the wild kind, for the former are often planted upon the bed in formal rows, or enclosed by the little hedge of box, while the latter grow in tufts in various parts of the meadow-the free wild children of earth. Still, under all circumstances, the crocus is a handsome flower, and contrasts beautifully with its companion, the delicate snowdrop. Then, too, it enlivens the barren aspect of the garden, which has long looked desolate and dreary; so that we hail the crocus as a favourite, and it mingles with all our dreams of spring, as assuredly as the cherished violet or meadow daisy. It is, indeed, as much the precursor of this season as its accompaniment, as it blooms both in February and March; and when it first gilds the bed, we know that spring is coming quickly. It is like the early beam of the morning sun-a promise of a rich noontide glow. We are glad, when the rain will cease awhile, and when the thaw is not dropping from the trees, to wrap our warm clothing about us, and venture forth into the garden to watch the first crocuses, and to predict the beauty with which the earth shall be soon covered. Perhaps there is not, throughout the year, a more undelightful month than February. It is that in which nature presents her fewest beauties. We observe this especially in the flower gardens. Indeed the grass is getting green upon the meadow, and under the hedges several plants are putting forth their herbage—their delicate green leaves and stems. The woods are always lovely, even in winter, with their black and red berries, and the varied outlines presented by the naked boughs of the differently formed trees, and the pathways dry from the carpet of brown leaves which the angry winds have flung over them. The beautiful snow has melted away from the flower-beds, and here and there the leaves of the early plants may be seen unfolding themselves; but the large uncovered spaces of the parterre, adorned by scarcely any other blossom, seem, notwithstanding the open cups spot. of its knots of crocuses, a barren dreary There are generally enumerated fourteen species of garden crocus; either of blue, in its varied shades, from the full purple to the azure tint, or of the most brilliant yellow. They are almost all natives of warm climates, though with the exception of the autumn species, they bloom with us during February and March. The autumn-blooming crocuses, though. not inferior in beauty to those of spring, are, of course, from the season of their blossoming, less generally admired, but one of these species (the Crócus sativus,) is valuable for its production of saffron. But it is in the few spots of English meadow land where this flower is found, that it is invested with all its loveliness. There it rises among the shining blades of grass, or grows beneath the welcome plants which, at the beginning of the year, grace the hedges, adding greatly by their numerous small white blossoms to the beauty of the vernal landscape. The |