SAFFRON: ITS HISTORY, CULTIVATION AND USES. 67 



naturalized about Halifax, near Derby, and about Saffron Walden; and "the latter 

 is the only place where the article of the Materia Medica is now (1832) produced 

 for sale in England." It is doubtful however, in the face of Lord Braybrooke's 

 statement, whether the culture of Saffron Walden was of so recent a date. Mr. 

 W. Chater, of the Nurseries, Saffron Walden states that it does not occur there now, 

 even as a naturalized plant. 



To modern cultivators of Crocuses who one and all find so much difficulty 

 in getting- the Saffron to flower in their gardens, it is more a matter of surprise 

 that Saffron was grown in England as an economic plant for three or four centuries, 

 than that the production of Saffron has entirely died out; and the Saffron Crocus 

 has disappeared in England even as a naturalized plant. 



The Stigmata of .several wild species of Crocus are collected for Saffron. 

 Canon Tristram, in his Natural History of the Bible, states that in Syria the stigmata 

 of^ the blue sorts (? C. cancellatus, var.) are collected by women and children, and 

 dried in the sun or pressed into small tablets, which are sold in the Bazaars. 



At Sivas, in Asia Minor, Saffron is obtained from Crocus ancyrencis, and 

 called by the Turks, Cheardrin, Saffron, and several other things. In Sicily accor- 

 ding to Gussone, the stigmata of the wild C. longiflorus are made use of; Mr. 

 C. C. Lacaita tells me that the use of the stigmata of the wild Saffron Crocus 

 (C Thomasii, Tenore) for the flavouring of dishes has come under his own observation 

 in the neighbourhood of Taranto, in South Italy, and I am informed by Mr. Ouintana, 

 H. M. V. Consul at Syra, that the stigmata of the wild C. sativus var. Cartwrigktinnus 

 are collected for Saffron on the higher parts of the Island of Andros, and that a 

 pigment is prepared from it, locally known as Zafran. 



The method of the preparation of Saffron probably varies in different countries. 

 In some cases, the pistils of the Saffron Crocus are simply dried as they are gathered, 

 as "Hay Saffron," or are pressed in the process of drying into compact cakes. 



I condense the following account of the usual mode of preparation from 

 Hooper's Medical Dictionary, Ed. 7, pp. 476-477. 



The flowers are gathered early in the morning just as they are beginning to 

 open; they are then spread upon a table, and the stigmas, with a portion of* the 

 style, are carefully picked out of the flowers, and dried on a portable kiln of 

 peculiar construction. The wet Saffron is spread to a depth of two or three inches 

 on sheets of white paper placed on a hair-cloth stretched over the kiln; it is 

 covered with other sheets of paper, and over all is laid a coarse blanket three or 

 four times doubled, and pressed down with a board and a large weight after the 

 fire is lighted. The first heat is strong, to make the Saffron "sweat"; and after 

 an hour it is turned, and the same degree of heat continued for another hour. 

 The heat is then reduced during a further drying for twenty-four hours, the "cake" 



