Croûton

“ Crowea.— A peaty soil, moderate supplies of water, and a light position, are the main essentials to success in the cultivation of croweas. The short-jointed side shoots strike rather freely, provided they are taken when the wood is moderately firm, and the cuttings covered with a bell-glass. It is necessary to practise a judicious system of stopping when the plants are young, to ensure the production of bushy well-furnished specimens. They are exceedingly impatient of artificial heat. ”

“ The Willow-leaved Crowea we consider as one amongst the many strong arguments, to favour our opinion; it is rather a delicate plant, and should be kept in a dry and warm part of the greenhouse, where it will flower from the month of July, till November; growing three feet high, if planted in light sandy peat; and is easily propagated by cuttings. Although, this is the only species at present, in cultivation with us; there is little doubt from the number of handsome specimens of other species, which we have seen, in the different herbariums from Botany Bay ”

“ Meanwhile, it certainly is the prettiest sight imaginable, these Crocuses thrown lightly, as it were, upon the frosted turf in garlands of amethyst and amber. The rime, covering up all varied greens and browns of earth and grass with a veil of pearly grey, gives a most pure and charming result. If you look quite near—at the purple wreath especially—the flowers seem all dipped in pounded sugar, crystallized for a fairy’s feast. Except this pretty morning show, there is as yet but little joy. Fewer flowers than in January even, and such as [Pg 95] are willing to bloom cast down on the ground. ”

“ And buried deep the crocus-bulbs
⁠Against a coming day.
"These roots are dry, and brown, and sere;
⁠Why plant them here?" he said,
"To leave them, all the winter long,
⁠So desolate and dead."
"Dear child, within each sere dead form
⁠There sleeps a living flower,
And angel-like it shall arise
⁠In spring's returning hour." ”

“ Up, up. Croft glanced at his companion and found her face wide-eyed. Up, up, as she floated beside him, her slender shape in the void of darkness beyond the atmosphere of Palos beginning to flash and glow with its contained fire. For Croft had willed himself to that one of the moons on which he had first come down from his daring journey from the earth. And now it swung above them. Together they swam toward it, and came to it finding its barren and lifeless crags and plains aglare in the light of Sirius, partly steeped in impenetrable gloom. ”

“ The myriads of Crocus leaves dying off without the indignity of being tied into bundles as is common in gardens, the dense growth of Aconite and Snowdrop leaves, of coloured and common Primroses and Cowslips, suggest the beauty of this wild garden in spring. ”

“ Their use in beds, borders, pots, or in grass is necessary if we are to enjoy our gardens to the full. While the popular Dutch varieties, whose names will be found in any bulb catalogue, will retain their place in the garden, they will be largely supplemented by the different species by whose aid the interest in these flowers will be much increased. By their help we can not only extend the Crocus season, so as to have flowers in autumn and winter as well as in spring, but they will also give us new colours and markings of much beauty. The autumn Crocuses are of much value. ”

“ But the one grown in soil has formed a new corm, which will produce new flowers next year. This new corm has grown upon the top of the old one. The crocus grown in water has also produced a new corm, but it is too small to produce a flower next year.
“Then, again, take the snowdrop. The one grown in the soil has produced two or three new bulbs, while that grown in water has not. These new bulbs were the side buds we noticed between the scales when we opened out our snowdrop bulb. In both snowdrops the old bulb has been completely used up to form green leaves and flower. ”

“ Linnæus considers the Crocus, or Saffron of the shops, which blows invariably in the autumn, and the spring Crocus, with its numerous varieties (of which Parkinson, in his Garden of Pleasant Flowers, enumerates no less than twenty-seven) as one and the same species; other Botanists have considered them as distinct, particularly Prof. Jacquin, whose opinion on this subject we deem the most decisive. ”

“ The play of light filtering through foliage has never been more beautifully rendered upon canvas, or with a closer approximation to the truth of Nature, than in the “Paysage,” reproduced here. The manner in which the tree has been portrayed, the body and soul of it, is not less astonishing. The landscape is a masterpiece among masterpieces, and an impressive witness to Corot’s amazingly sensitive faculty of apprehending what was in front of him, both with eye and mind. ”

“ The economy of the Autumn Crocus is extremely curious. The flowers appearing so late in the year, when the seeds could not be ripened by exposure to the sun and air, an entirely different organization is adopted by nature for the propagation of the plant; the fructification takes place under ground, and the following Spring the seed vessels rise to the surface accompanied by leaves, which do not appear with the flower in Autumn. ”

“ The crag, all discolored in rust-red streaks by the dripping of the mineral water through its interstices, towered above their heads; the ferns, exquisite and of subtle fragrance, tufted the niches; the trees were close about them, and below, on the precipitous slope; sometimes the lush green boughs parted, revealing a distant landscape of azure ranges, far stretching against a sky as blue, and in the valley of the foreground long bars of golden hue, where fields, denuded of the harvested wheat, took the sun. ”

“ We have figured the yellow variety, which is the one most commonly cultivated in our gardens, though according to the description in the Flora Austriaca, the Crocus vernus, in its wild state, is usually purple or white.
The cultivation of this plant is attended with no difficulty; in a light sandy loam, and dry situation, the roots thrive, and multiply so much as to require frequent reducing ”

“ Under the frozen ground the crocus and the hyacinth and the tulip hide in their hearts the perfect forms of future flowers. And it is even so with you: your leaf buds of the future are frozen, but not killed; the soil of your heart has many flowers under it cold and still now, but they will yet come up and bloom. ”

“ The typical form, as illustrated, is seen to be a quaint little plant; its flowers are large, of a shining light purple colour, and star-shaped; the dwarf foliage is of the well-known crowfoot kind. When grown in bold clumps it is richly effective, and, like most other Anemones, is sure to be admired. [Pg 21]
It thrives well in a light loam and in slight shade; I have tried it in pots kept in cold frames, where it flowers in mid-winter. It would doubtless make a showy appearance in a cool greenhouse. To propagate it, the roots should be divided after the tops have died down in summer. ”

“ These rings of leaf-marks are the nodes, where leaves and buds are found on all stems. The large buds on the top of the corm correspond to the large buds at the end of your horse-chestnut stem. Now, let us take off one of these large top buds. Notice that it is covered with many tough, protective scale-leaves.”
Crocus Bud Dissected.
1. Scales. 2, 3, 4. Parts of Flower. 5. Leaves. 6. Spathe. 7. Ovary. 8. Young Corm. A. Old Corm.
Removing these scales, Uncle George came to a round object in the centre.
“This,” he said, “is a long sack or bag. It contains the flower of the crocus.” ”

“ Though the ivy-leaved crowfoot is generally regarded as a species, I think it is only a variety of the one we are now looking at. Now I fish a plant out with my stick and nip off a tuft of hair-like leaves and pop it into the bottle. Have I anything here? No doubt the microscope would show countless numbers of minute animalcules, but I detect no Melicertæ. Let us try again. I nip off another tuft. There! do you see one, two, three, four little things sticking almost at right angles to some of the leaves? No, you see nothing? ”

“ The newest formed leaves are light olive green with mid-ribs and veins of golden yellow, and the interspaces spotted with the same color. As the leaves become older, the green deepens and changes to a bright bronzy crimson, and the golden yellow of the mid-ribs, veins and spots becomes a rich orange scarlet." Princess of Wales is one of the long-leaved drooping forms of Croton, and is very distinct in character. The leaves are from one and one-half to two feet in length. The ground color is green, and the variegations creamy-yellow, very variable in color. ”

“ But above water, as below it, the crowfoot remains in principle a crowfoot still. The traditions of its race, acquired in damp marshy meadows, not actually under water, cling to it yet in spite of every change. Born river and pond plants which rise to the surface, like the water-lily or the duck-weed, have broad floating leaves that contrast strongly with the waving filaments of wholly submerged species. They can find plenty of food everywhere, and as the sunlight falls flat upon them, they may as well spread out flat to catch the sunlight. ”

“ CROTCHET (from the Fr. croche, a hook; whence also the Anglicized “crochet,” pronounced as in French, for the knitting-work done with a hook instead of on pins) , properly a small hook, and so used of the hook-like setae or bristles found in certain worms which burrow in sand. In music, a “crotchet” is a note of half the value of a minim and double that of a quaver; it is marked by a round black head and a line without a tail or hook; the French croche is used of a “quaver” which has a tail, but in ancient music the semiminima, the modern crotchet, is marked by an open note with a hook. ”

“ Water Crowfoot.
widely spread species: the placid waters of regions so different from each other in climate as Lapland and Abyssinia are equally favourable to its growth, and the lakes and slowly running streams of California are powdered over with its brilliant blossoms, as we see them in our English pools. The water crowfoot affords us also a beautiful example of that adaptability of form to the circumstances of the plant’s existence which we may so frequently trace in the works of nature. ”

“ The named varieties are invaluable for pot and frame culture, and to force for decorative purposes; for though the individual flowers are short-lived, the finest bulbs yield a long succession of bloom, and in character Crocuses are quite distinct from all other flowers of the same early season. When grown in pots and baskets, the bulbs should be placed close together to produce a striking effect. A light, rich soil is desirable, but they may be flowered in a mixture of charcoal and moss, or in fibre, or moss alone. ”

“ As for the other Coralwort, which grows in this nation, it is more scarce than this, being a very small plant, much like Crowfoot, therefore some think it to be one of the sorts of Crowfoot. I know not where to direct you to it, therefore I shall forbear the description. ”

“ The Purple Crocus, partly from the full materials for color-contrast afforded by its interior, partly from the exceeding delicacy of tint, the lilac stripes and markings, the transparent veins and the pale watery lake which lies at the bottom of the cup, seem to bear us away to some enchanted spot, a fairy-land of color where no shadow ever falls—a land of dim eternal twilight and never fading flowers. ”

“ Almost every nodule of one especial layer near the top incloses its organism. The coloring is frequently of great beauty. In the Cromarty, as in the Caithness, Orkney, and Gamrie specimens, the animal matter with which the bones were originally charged has been converted into a dark glossy bitumen, and the plates and scales glitter from a ground of opaque gray, like pieces of japan-work suspended against a rough-cast wall. ”

“ The crop hangs on the vines until frost and keeps well into the winter. In spite of high quality of fruit, Croton has never become widely distributed, wholly failing as a commercial variety. It originated with S. W. Underhill, Croton Point, New York, from a seed of Delaware pollinated by a European grape. Fruits were first exhibited in 1868.
Vine vigorous, tender, productive. Canes long, numerous, thick, dark reddish-brown; nodes enlarged; internodes short; shoots glabrous; tendrils intermittent, long, bifid. Leaves of medium size, hang late; upper surface light green, dull, smooth ”

“ Green leaves, as you know, give off the moisture which the roots take up from the soil. They also take in plant-food from the air. Scale-leaves protect buds, flowers, and tender stems from cold and from insects. These thin brown leaves of the crocus corm are scale-leaves formed underground. Please remove the brown scale-leaves from one of the corms, Frank.”
1. Snowdrop. 2. Tulip. 3. Narcissus. 4. Crocus. ”

“ A sandy soil suits the Crocus admirably. Plant in the fall, in the open, setting them 3 to 4 inches deep. When they show signs of failing, take up the bulbs and reset them. They tend to rise out of the ground, because the new bulb or corm forms on the top of the old one. If best results are desired, it is well to renew the bed occasionally by buying new bulbs. Crocus beds may be filled later in the season with quick-growing annuals. ”

“ A thousand bulbs of mixed crocuses should be got for three dollars or a little more, and these would make a great display along the fence or walks of any school garden. One of the ways to grow crocuses is to plant the bulbs in the grass, not cutting out the grass where they are planted. That is, they grow right in the sod. By the time the lawn needs to be mown in the spring, the flowers are gone and the crocuses can be cut with the grass. ”