94 



THE HERB-GARDEN 



and to constitute this quantity forty thousand 

 flowers were required. Growing Saffron was a lucra- 

 tive industry. Bulbs, flowers, and seeds were all of 

 value for making into tinctures and syrups. From 

 the flowers are taken the familiar orange-red fila- 

 ments we buy in a dried state for household use ; 

 they are really the anthers of the flower, which pro 

 trude beyond the blossom and have given the plant 

 its name. Crocus, being derived from a Greek word 

 signifying a thread. Sometimes the stigmata of 

 Marigold are used to adulterate the True Saffron. 

 The flower of Crocus sativus is violet, variously 

 striped with deeper or lighter tints, and it is 

 fragrant. 



* I must have Saffron to colour the warden 

 pies,' said the clown to Perdita, who was making 

 pasties for the sheep -shearing, and the same sweet 

 colouring matter enriches the cakes and buns of 

 the present day. We use it, too, in starch for 

 colouring lace and linen ; but we do not expect it 

 to cure measles, nor do we stuff pillows and cushions 

 with it with a view to its animating and restorative 

 qualities. Nowadays, if one is in a merry mood, 

 none of his friends would say of him, ' He has 

 slept in a sack of Saffron.' 



As children, when it was the fashion to keep 



