SAFFRON. lyi 



pers best. Hares are very fond of this plant, 

 which makes it necessary to protect the 

 plantations with hurdles, or some other ef- 

 fective fence to prevent the depredations of 

 these animals. 



The saffron roots are planted about mid- 

 summer, which is also the time that they are 

 taken out of the ground, and sold by the 

 bushel. It requires about 128 bushels of 

 these bulbs to plant an acre of land, and 

 about the third or fourth year, when the 

 roots are taken out of the ground to make 

 fresh plantations, they are generally so in- 

 creased as to plant from three to four times 

 the same quantity of land.* 



The expense of planting, hoeing, gather- 

 ing, and drying the saffron is very consider- 

 able ; and the crocus plantations are not 

 more exempt from casualties, than the other 

 crops of the husbandman; but they are less 

 felt in this country than in the saffron-fields 

 of Gatinois. M. du Hamel, who undertook 

 to give the Paris Academy an account of the 

 principal malady of this plant, appears to 

 have been the first person who ascertained 

 the cause of what we call the rot, and 



# Liger. 



