CROCUS. 665 



distinguished 



price-lists till the beginning of the present century; the culture of 

 saffron is still going on there to a small extent.^ The growing of 

 saffron in Sicily, which was noticed even by Columella, is carried 

 on to the present day, but the quantity produced is insufficient 

 even for home consumption.^ In Germany and Switzerland, where 

 a more rigorous climate must have increased the difficulties of culti- 

 vation, the production of saffron was an object of industry in many 

 localities.^ 



The saffron crocus is said to have been introduced into England 

 during the reign of Edward III. (A.d. 1327-1377).^ Two centuries later 

 English saffron was even exported to the Continent, for in a priced list of 

 the spices sold by the apothecaries of the north of France, A.D. 1565-70, 

 mention is made of three sorts of saffron, of which ''Safren d'Engleterre'' 

 is the most valuable." It was evidently produced in considerable quan- 

 tities, for in 1682 we find in the tariff of the "Apotheke^^ of Celle, 

 Hanover, crocus austriacus optimus, and Grams communis anglicu^,^ 



In the beginning of the last century (1723-28), the cultivation of 

 saffron was carried on in what is described by a contemporary writer ' 

 a.s-^" all that lar^e tract of ground that lies between Saffron Walden 



t>^ ^^^^^ ^^ H 



and Cambrid^re, in a circle of about 10 miles diameter." The same 



m 



of England. The cultivation of the crocus about Saffron Walden, which 

 was in full activity when Norden^ wrote in 1594, had ceased in 17C8, 

 and about Cambridge at nearly the same time.' Yet the culture must 

 have lingered in a few localities, for in the early part of the present 

 century a little English saffron was still brought every year from 

 Cambridgeshire to London, and sold as a choice drug to those who were 

 willing to pay a high price for it. . 



Saffron was employed in ancient times to a far greater extent than 

 at the present day. It entered into all sorts of medicmes, both niternal 

 and external ; and it was in common use as a colouring aiyl flavouring 

 ingredient of various dishes for the table, The drug, from its me vita ble 

 costliness, has been liable to sophistication from the ^ earliest times. 

 Both Dioscorides and Pliny refer to the frauds practised on it, the 

 latter remarking — " aduUemtnr nihil wque." 



During the middle ages the severest enactments were not only made 

 but were actually carried into effect, against those who were guilty ot 

 sophisticating saffron, or even of possessing the article in an aduiteratea 

 si^i.A Ti.,,. „j- n- _. • .^ t'-jf\K +v.^ /if/rtJ<7,mr«*. or keepers 01 tne 



fiindac 



public warehouses, "were required by oath and heax^ penalties to de- 

 nounce the owners of any falsified saffron consigned to their custody. 



I Groves, Pnarm. ^..;« vi. .(1 875) 215, J S-^^lvif 'IS28.505. 



luh iV Af/ncoUura Sici- ' ^ougiass, / / r^.^A^ii Society. 



iiana, i. (1851) 51. 



9/& 



^T^^Siis, De Stirjnum, etc. 1552, ^.763; ^^^•^- ^ .•/ • T v,niiq .Vaana ifn- 



0-hs Ge^chlchte der Stadt nnd LamUchaft » Morant, op. cU. Lysons, -'^«J7 J« ^^ 



^asel, ni (isionsn tannia, vol. n. pt. i- (iw») dO. i^ysoiit. 



' ^ior^nt,Hit and Antia of Essex ii record^ that at Fulbourn, a village near 



(1768) 545 ^' -^ ' Cambridge, there had been no tithe of saff- 



^ The other sorts are "Sa/ren Calulome" ''°" ^^'^''^ .^^-^S, /„/; ;„p,/;/,- Mia cltta di 



"'d yafrenNoort."~Archivesgin6ralesdu '» Bonami, f «/"^* J^ . IiSt) 101 



P^ de Calais, quoted by Dorv-ault, Kevue Pisa dalxu. al xw. secolo, 1.1. (185/) lUl. 



mirmaceutifjue de 1858. p. 58. 



