190 CULTIVATED VEGETABLES. 



Miller tells us, in his Gardener's Dictionary, 

 published in 1724, that " the method of 

 drying it may be learned at Littlebury, near 

 Walden in Essex; for there is so much art 

 in it, that saffron is five or ten shillings a 

 pound the better for that only." It takes 

 from three to five pounds of the fresh stigma 

 and chives to make one pound of dry saffron. 

 An acre of land has sometimes produced 

 eighteen pounds of dried saffron ; but ten 

 pounds is a more general crop. Miller in- 

 forms us, that in dry years it sold for up- 

 wards of five pounds per pound, prior to the 

 year 1724. It has been as low as 28s., but 

 the present wholesale price is from 48s. to 

 56s. per pound. Coles says, " there is no 

 saffron comparable to the English, but that 

 it was cultivated by so many persons (about 

 the year 1657) that it was not then so profit- 

 able as formerly." As late as 1705, Phillips 

 observes, 



" Can Tmolus* head 



Vie with our saffron odours ?" 



Saffron is also cultivated in Cambridge- 

 shire, in a circle of about ten miles in dia- 

 meter. It loves an open country, free from 

 trees and enclosures ; and where there is a 

 good mould upon a chalky bottom, it pros- 



