34 DUTCH BULBS AND GARDENS 



happened very long ago. There is a tradition that 

 the saffron crocus (Crocus sativus} was introduced 

 into England in 1339. Hakluyt speaks of its being 

 brought by a pilgrim who, appreciating the 

 sovereign value of the plant, and " proposing to do 

 good to his country," carried home a root hidden 

 in his staff, which had been made hollow " of pur- 

 pose," though whether for the purpose of carrying 

 saffron or anything else of value or interest he 

 could pick up, is not clear. In either case the 

 proceeding is rather typically English, as also are 

 Hakluyt's further remarks on saffron growing. 

 He regrets that it has become a failing industry in 

 these days, when many sturdy fellows are without 

 work, and suggests, even as we suggest the revival 

 of sundry curious things, that it should be revived 

 for the benefit of the unemployed, who then, as now, 

 were a cut-and-come-again problem. 



It is interesting to notice that the older writers 

 include all crocuses and colchicums under the name 

 saffron, not meaning, as we do now, only the 

 Crocus sativus. This crocus, and other varieties of 

 autumn-flowering ones, are grown in Holland ; the 

 delicate flowers, beautifying some few fields when 

 the rest are, for the most part, bare, give to them 

 almost a look of spurious spring. It was no doubt 



