282 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [anNO 1728. 



this is always to be observed, that about 5 lb. of wet safFron go to make ] lb. of 

 dry, for the first 3 weeks of the crop, and 61b. during the last week ; and, now 

 that the heads are planted very thick, 2 lb. of dried safFron may, at a medium, 

 be allowed to an acre for a first crop, and 24 lb. to the 2 remaining, the 3d be- 

 ing considerably larger than the 2d. 



To obtain these, there is only a repetition to be made every year of the labour 

 of hoeing, gathering, picking and drying, in the same manner as before, 

 without the addition of any thing new ; except that they let cattle into the 

 fields, after the leaves are decayed, to feed upon the weeds ; or perhaps mow 

 them for the same use. 



About Midsummer, after the 3d crop is gathered, the roots must all be taken 

 up and transplanted : the management requisite for which, is the fourth thing 

 to be treated of. To take up the saffron heads, or break up the ground, as 

 their term is, they sometimes plough it, sometimes use a forked kind of hoe 

 called a pattock, and then the ground is harrowed once or twice over ; during 

 all which time of ploughing, or digging and harrowing, 13 or more people find 

 work enough to follow and gather the heads as they are turned up. 



They are next carried to the house in sacks, and there cleaned or rased. 

 This labour consists in clearing the roots thoroughly from earth, and from the 

 remains of old roots, old involucra, and excrescencies ; and thus they become 

 fit to be planted in new ground immediately, or to be kept for some time with- 

 out danger of spoiling. 



The quantity of roots taken up, in proportion to those that were planted, is 

 uncertain ; but at a medium it may be said, that allowing for all the accidents 

 that happen to them in the ground, and in breaking up, from each acre may be 

 had 24 quarters of clean roots, all fit to be replanted. The owners are sure to 

 choose for their own use the largest, plumpest, and fottest roots, but above all, 

 they reject the long pointed ones, which they call spickets or spickards ; for 

 very small round or flat roots are sometimes observed to flower. 



Remarks on the Height of Mountains in general, and of those in Switzerland 

 in particular, ivith an Account of the Rise of some of the most considerable 

 Rivers of Europe. Bjj J. G. Scheuchzer, M. D. &c. N° 406, p. 577- 



In a former paper, in 1SI° 405, Dr. S. observed that Dicaarchus found 

 Mount Pelius in Thessalia, to be 1250 paces high, which make 6250 Roman, 

 or 6822 Paris feet, a height which we may well pronounce too great even for 

 the absolute height of Mount Pelius, above the level of the sea. Conformable 

 to the determination of Dicsearchus, the Dr. mentioned^ that Plutarch fixes 



