CRO
C R O
The broad-leaved, fpring erects, with variegated, purple flowers, i*. The broad-leaved, fpring crocus, with very large, plain, purple flowers. 15. The broad-leaved, fpring croct&i, with white, variegated flowers. 16. The violet-co- loured, fpring ct-ocus, with broad leaves, with a white line in the middle, and yellow edges. 17. The broad-leaved, fpring crocus, with flowers ftreaked with red on the iniidc, and with white on the out 18. The fpring crocus, with three fegments of the flower of a bright red, and the reft Variegated. 19. The fprine, changeable-flowered crocus. 20. The broad-leaved, fpring crocus, with'blueifh, purple flowers. 21. The white-flowered, fpring crcus, with a blueifh pur- ple bafe. 22. The bro id-leaved, fpring crocus, with flowers purple at the top, ami yellow at the bafe. 23. The broad- leaved, i\m n^ crocus i with variegated blue {lowers. 24. The broad-leaved, fpring cocus, with pale blue flowers, ftreaked with violet-coloured lines. 25. The double, fpring crocus. ?.b. The broad-leaved, fpring cocus, with violet purple flowers, ftreaked with white. 27. The many-flowered, broad-leaved, fpring crocus, with white flowers, variegated with blueifh. purple liues. zH. 'the lefler, white, fpring crcchs-. 29. The lefler, purple, fpring cro,us. 30. The broad-leaved, whitifh, or greyifh-flovvered crocus- 31. The broad-leaved, fpring cr-cus, with a large, deep, yellow flower. 1,?. The broad leaved, fpring era us, with a fmallcr, pale, yellow flower. 33. The broad leaved, fpring crocus, with a yellow flower, and a green bottom. 34. The broad- leaved, fpring cr'cus, with a yellow flower, with a purple edge. 35. The broad leaved, fpring crocus, with a gold , yellow flower. 36. The broad-leaved fpring crocus, with a i pale, whitifh, yellow flower. 37. The broad-leaved, yel- ! lowifh, fpring crocus, with a variegated flower. 38. The ' broad-leaved, yellow, fpring crocus, with a more variegated flower. 3Q. The broad-leaved, fpring crocw, with varie- j gated double flowers. 40. The narrow-leaved, fpring cro- \ ens^ with a large, blue flower. 41. The narrow-leaved, I fpring cr-cus, with a very large, white flower. 42. The : narrow-leaved, fpring crocus, with double bulbs. 43. The narrow-leaved,, fpring crccus, with fmall blue flowers. 44. I The purple flowered, rufh-leaved, fpring crocus. 45. The fpring crocus, with capillaceous leaves. 46. The narrow- leaved, fpring crocus, with variegated flowers. Town. In ft.
P- 35° — 35 2 - , I
The variety of the fcveral fp cies of crocus produced in the ! gardens of the curious by raifing them from well chofen feeds, is ahnoft incredible. For the manner of raifing them, fee the article Xiphium.
They are all very hardy, and will increafe exceedingly by I the root;., if fuftered to remain fome years in the ground. They will grow in all foils and fituations, and are great j ornaments to a garden, as they flower when fcarce any! thing elfe is up. The fibres of thefe roots perifh when their leaves do, and they may, therefore, like all other roots of thai: kind, be taken up as foon as the leaves appear dead, and laid by, in a dry place till September, at which time they muft be planted again for the fpring flowering. They fhould be planted in holes made wiJi a debble, about two inches deep, and at two inches diftance from one another; the earth being raked over them, they fhould remain co- vered about an inch deep with it. If the weather is mild, they will, in January, appear above ground, and in Febru- ary they will be in full flower. The leaves arc to fhort when the flower appears, that it fecms produced on a naked ftalk, but as that decays they grow to a confiderable length ; thefe look but unfighcly after the flower is gone, but they fhould not be cut, for that greatly weakens the root for he next feafon's flowering.
Crocus, in chemiftry. The preparations of metals which are generally known by this name, as the crocus martls, and the like, feem to have obtained it from their fanron-like colour. They are the calxes of metals, confifting of their fixed parts Separated from their fulphureous ; they are. made eitherby the means of fire, or by the action of falts of various kinds ; and arc either naturally in a powder, or very eafily reducible into one.
The General fubjecls of this fort of procefs are gold, fdver, iron, and antimony, and there are many ways of making the proccflcs. The virtues afcribed to the gold and fdver crocus's feem, in a great mtafure, imaginary: that of antimony are fir from bcimj; the belt fort of preparations of that metal ; but thofe of iron are, more than all others, ufeful in medicine Hoftmr.'i, in his -tiia l.ahorairu, has many improvements on the common proceflcs for the making thefe preparations.
Crocus fadicus, Indian fpjj'rm, in the materia medica, a name given by fome authors to the curcuma, or turmeric root of the fi.ops. Pont. p. ■ ".•
Crocus pntim:w, the name given in the late London difpenfa- torv, to the preparation of" antimony and nitre commonly known, by the name of crozt'i rneta h uvi. It h made of equal
- irts. of antimony and nitre, powdered fine, and thrown, at
pa,„ .
times iiito a red hot crucible, and, when thoroughly melted, poured out, and feparated from its fcorire. This looks more yellow the longer it has been melted : it is but little ufed, ex- cept among hoifcs ; but when urended for internal ule among 3
men, fhould be procured faithfully prepared in thiy mariner j for our chemifts generally abate of the nitre to fave charge^ and render the medicine of a very different effect. Pem/xrton's Lond. Difp. p. 230.
W afhed crocus of antimony is made by boiling the crocus of an- timony, reduced to a very fine powder, in water, flill chang- ing the water, till it comes off infipid. Of this is made the vinum antimoniae, called alfo -vinum emetici.m, and vinum be- nedicium. See Vinum emetkum, Cycl.
Crocus marlis, a chemical preparation, ufed alfo by the glafs- makers, to give a red colour to glafs. The glafs-makers pre- pare this themfelves, and have four ways of doing It. The firlt is this: take filings of iron, mix them with three parts of powdered brimftonc, and keep them in a melting pot, in a furnace, to calcine, and burn off the fulphur ; let them ftand four hours in this ftate, then take them out, and, when cold, powder and fift them, and put the powder into a crucible, which lute over, and fet it in the leer of the furnace for fifteen days, or more, it will then be of a redifh purple, and muft be kept for ufe. Neri's Art of Giafs, p. 31. Thefecond way of making this, is by fprlnkling filings of iron with ftrong vinegar, and fett'mg them in the fun to dry; when dry, powder and fift them, and wet them again with vinegar, and, when dry, powder them again. Repeat this eight timesj and then powder the whole, and fift it fine for ufe. The third way is to ufe aqua fortis, inftead of vinegar, in the fame manner.
The fourth way, which is the beft of all, is this: diffolve fi- lings of iron in aqua regia, and let the folution ftand three days in a veffel clofe-ftopped, fhaking it about at times; then eva- porate the liquor gently, and there will remain a moft valuable crocus mcirtis. Id. ibid.
Crocus mari'is apeneus is prefcribed in cafes of obftruftions, the dofe being from ten to thirty grains.
Crocus martis aflringens is prefcribed in hemorrhages, dyfente- ries, and diarrhceas, the dofe being the fame as in the former. The beft way is to give it in a bolus, or pills, becaufe in li- quids it finks to the bottom too fuddenly to be taken without " wafle. See Crocus, Cycl.
CRONICAL, in aftronomy. See Acronycal, Cycl.
CRONIUS, E^poM©., in chronology, the antient name of the Athe- nian month, hecatojabezon, which was t;:e firft of their year, and anfwered to the latter part of our June, and beginning of July. SeeHECATOME/EoN and Month.
CROOKEDNESS. See Distortion.
CROOTES, a fubflauce found about the ore in the lead mines, at Mendip, being a mealy, white, foft ftone, matted with ore.
CROPS of corn. The great bufinefs of the farmer is to produce the largeft crops he can, and, at the fame time, to injure his land the leaft. The common way of fowing exhaufts the whole land, without giving half the nouriihment that it might give to the corn. Inftead of the fcatter'mg way of fowing corn by the hand, if it be let in with the drill, in Angle, double, treble, or quadruple rows, and an inter- val of five feet of naked ground be left between thefe fe- ries of rows, the ufe of horic-hoeing in thefe intervals will be found to give all that the farmer requires: the crop Will be larger, though fo great a quantity of ground is left va- cant, than if all were fown over, as the plants will ftand vaftly thicker in the rows, and will have twenty or thirty ftalks a-piece ; and the more the fucceffive crops are plant- ed, and the oftener the ground is hoed in this manner, the better will the plants be maintained, and every crop will be larger and larger from the fame ground, without dung- ing, or without changing the fort of plant, as is ufually neceflary in other cafes. See Husbandry, and Interval. This is very evident in feveral parts of the fame field, where this fort of hufbandry has been entered upon at different times, and fome have a firft nop, others a fecond, and o- thers a third, all growing up at the fame time, the older worked land always invariably fhewing the beft crop. Dung- ins and fallowing are both neceflary to recover land to its virtue, in the common way, after a few crops. Thefe are both of them cxpences to the farmer ; but the horfe-hoeing, when the corn is fown in rows, anfwers all the intent of them, and is much lefs expenfive. It has, in fhort, every year, the good effect of a fummer fallow, though it every year produces a good crop, and no time, or ufe of it, is loft to the farmer. Tull's Horfe-hoeing Hufbandry.
CROPPER, or Dutch Cropper, the name of a particular fpecies of pidgeon, called the columba gutiurofa J'atavia, by Moore. It is naturally thick, and has its name from its large crop, or bag of wind, which it carries under its beak, and can, at pleafure, either raife, or deprefs. Thefe are thick-bedied, and Ihort ; their legs are alfo thick and fhort, and are feathered down to the feet ; the crop is large, and hangs low j the feathers on the thighs hang loofe; and their legs ftand wide; they are .gvavel-eyed, and are generally ve- ry bad feeders.
There are of thefe pidgcons of all colours, and thofe who are careful of them, generally take them away from their 1 proper parent, while young, and breed them under the fe- males of other fpecies. Moore's Columbarium, p. 32.
CRQSS
