380 



SAFFRON. 



red, but when wet is yellow ; it has a bitter taste, is easily dissolved 

 in warm water and still easier in alcohol, also in ether and the essen- 

 tial oils. The colouring matter is about 42 per cent, of the saffron. 

 It is used in the morocco trade for colouring skins. 



The colouring power of saffron is very remarkable ; a single grain 

 rubbed to fine powder with a little sugar, will impart a distinct tint 

 of yellow to 10 gallons of water. 



This plant grows wild in many countries, and is cultivated in 

 several, such as Austria, Hungary, Eussia, Greece, Italy, Asia Minor, 

 Egypt, France, and Spain. The two principal countries of production 

 are the arrondissements of Pithiviers (Loiret), in France, and the 

 province of Avignon, in Spain. 



The production in France was estimated in 1862 at 88,000 lbs., 

 the greater part of which was sent to Germany, the price being about 

 75 francs the kilogramme, or a total value of 1,000,000 francs, equals 

 40,000Z. 



The production of saffron in France is chiefly confined to three 

 departments, of which Loiret produces the largest amount and of 

 the best quality. A saffron field is not in full bearing till the end of 

 the second year, at the end of three years it is exhausted, and, ac- 

 cording to a local proverb, the land is then so poisoned that it cannot 

 be used for the same purpose for 15 or 16 years more. The average 

 crop of the second and third year is various, from 10 to 30 kilo- 

 grammes per hectare, or from 9 lbs. to 27 lbs. per acre of dry pistils. 

 Each acre produces 600,000 to 700,000 bulbs, and each bulb two or 

 three flowers. About 30,000 flowers are required to produce 2 lbs. 

 of fresh pistils, which, when dried, are reduced to one-fifth of that 

 weight; the pistils are the only productive part of the flower, the 

 rest is waste. The labour of picking such enormous quantities of 

 flowers by hand is great, and when the crop is large and labourers are 

 scarce, the flowers are carried into the villages and small towns 

 round about, to be picked by women and children at home. In such 

 cases all the world is busy saffi^on-picking ; artisans, shopkeepers, 

 gentlemen, and ladies, freely assist in the work, the poor w^orking for 

 their own profit, the rich for the benefit of the necessitous. The 

 farmer has to pay from about lOd. to 4s. a pound for the picking, 

 according to the abundance of the crop. When the pistils are sepa- 

 rated they have to be dried, and this operation is effected by placing 

 about a pound of fresh pistils at a time in a horsehair sieve, suspended 

 over a little charcoal furnace. As soon as it is dry the saffron is 

 ready for sale. Commercial travellers generally buy up the saffron, 

 which goes by the name of the most famous district, the old province 

 of Gatinais, principally for Germany, where it is said to be mixed 

 with Spanish saffron and resold as a German product. 



Saffron requires a peculiar soil, and the land which suits it is 

 worth from SI. to 4Z. per acre, or double that of ordinary land in 

 the same district. The saffron sells on an average for 30s. or 21. per 

 pound, and when very fine for double those rates. 



The following is an analysis of a good saffron growing soil in the 

 neighbourhood of the town of Pinseaux, in the celebrated district of 

 Gatinais : 



