100 A HISTORY OF GARDEXIXG IN ENGLAND. 



first May (1545) cut or cause to be cut off the ear or ears of 

 any of the King's subjects otherwise than by authority of the 

 law, chance-medley, sudden affray, or adventure : (6) or after 

 the said day maliciously, willingly or unlawfully, bark any 

 apple trees, pear trees, or other fruit trees of any other person 

 or persons (7) that then every such offender and offenders 

 shall not only lose and forfeit unto the party grieved treble 

 damages for such offence or offences, the same to be recovered 

 by action of trespass, to be taken at the common law, but also 

 shall lose and forfeit to the King's Majesty and his heirs, for 

 every such offence X £ sterling in the name of a fine." 



Saffron continued to be largely used and grown for the 

 market, and sold at a high price. In the accounts of the 

 Monastery of Durham, " Crocus," or saffron, is of frequent 

 occurrence. In 1531 half a pound was bought m July ; the 

 same quantity in August and in November, a quarter of a pound 

 in September, and a pound and a half in October ; these items 

 give us some idea of the consumption. In 1539-40 the saffron 

 was bought from Thos. Freeman, of Doncaster, and of a 

 merchant from Cambridge, to the latter, for six and a half pounds 

 of "crocus" £y. 83. was paid. In 1538 it was bought at 

 " Braydforth fayre." Although it was not cultivated at all 

 in the north, and, as the above quotations show, had to be 

 imported from the Eastern counties, saffron commanded almost 

 as high a price in that part of the country. At Hunstanton, 

 in Norfolk, on " March 26th, 1536, one ounce of saffron cost 

 8d. and old saffron I2d, the ounce." ^ 



It was a profitable crop, and Tusser, who lived in the 

 Eastern counties, warns the husbandman not to forget it : — 



" Pare saffron plot 

 Forget it not 

 His dwelling made trim 



look shortly for him 

 When harvest is gone 



then saffron comes on 

 A little of ground 



brings saffron a pound." f 



* Le Strange, Household Books. 



■\ Five Hundred Pointes of Goode Husbandn'e.— August. 



