GS 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, Novembek 1, 1859. 
under the sunand really it does appear to be so as far as 
regards the various forms which matter undergoes. The various 
saline and mineral ingredients of the soil go to build up the 
vegetable fabric, -which, in its turn, serves the animal for food, 
and his frame is thus compounded and built up. He dies, and 
goes dust to dust, returning by his remains to mother earth all 
those elementary bases which were first absorbed by plants, and 
depositing the exact amount of matters absorbed. How beautiful, 
how exact and surprising is this circle! and yet it is and has 
been daily illustrated since the first formation of the world. 
Truly, speaking materially, there is nothing new under the sun. 
It seems to me to be always satisfactory to be able to reconcile 
the empiric acts of practice with what is considered to be sound 
theory. It is like putting upon the raw material its intrinsic 
value; and it is a delightful task for the mind to trace cultural 
subjects through all their bearings. The infinite wisdom of all 
these arrangements, the order and exactness with which they 
occur, teach us to adore the great Fountain of all Wisdom and 
Goodness. 
The improvements which have recently been made in the 
art of Horticulture and its younger sister Agriculture are indeed 
truly wonderful. But excellent as our systems now seem, I opine 
that in the next twenty years great additional improvements will 
take place, and the comfort and happiness of our race will be 
much extended. Let us hope that in furtherance of these objects ' 
all those who really do know will be ready to communicate what 
they have learned; and that those whose opportunities have 
been less advantageous may profit by what is communicated; 
while each party applies itself with energy to experiments. Thus 
shall we progress towards perfection. But let none of us despise 
small things, which often bring about great events. 
H. Bailey, Nuneham. 
SAFFRON CULTURE IN ENGLAND. - 
At a recent meeting of the Essex Archaeological Society, 
J. Clark, Esq., in the course of his “ Notes on the name of the 
town of Saffron Walden,” introduced the following statements :—• 
“ Crocus sativus, Saffron Crocus, or Saffron , is an autumnal 
Crocus, the corolla of which is divided into six equal segments; 
the petals are of a purple blue colour ; it has three linear-oblong 
golden stigmas, which are the Saffron. It flowers in October, and 
the leaves continue to grow all the winter. 
“ In October the flowers were gathered early in the morning, 
and conveyed home in baskets. Then commenced the process of , 
picking out the stigmas (or chives as they were called). These | 
were then pressed into cakes, and dried on kilns constructed for 
that purpose. 
“ Saffron was, at that time, thought a most valuable medicine 
for many diseases. The produce appears to have varied from 
8 lbs. to 20 lbs. per acre. 
“ The price of Saffron, at different periods, may be estimated 
from the presents made by the Corporation to the Sovereigns 
who visited Walden. 
“The quantity of Saffron varied, but it was usually presented 
in a silver cup or salver. 
“Queen Elizabeth received a cup in 1571, but no mention is 
made of the quantity. 
“ 1614. James was presented with a cup and 1 lb. of Saffron, 
which cost £3 3v. Ad., a considerable sum in those days. 
“1631, ozs. of Saffron given to Charles I. are charged at 
18s. per ounce. 
“ 1665. 20 ozs. of Saffron for Charles II. are charged £5 15 s. 
“ 1689. 14 ozs. for William III. cost £3 11s. 3 cl. 
“ 1717. The Saffron to put in the salver given to King George, 
cost £1 6s. 6d. 
“The first introduction of the plant into Walden is attributed 
to Sir Thomas Smith, born here in 1512 (the house he was born 
in is in the Market-Place). He was Secretary of State to Queen 
Elizabeth and Edward YI. But although our illustrious towns¬ 
man was an extensive grower of Saffron, he certainly was not the 
individual who first introduced it; for it is evident from the 
writings of Fleming, a clergyman who resided in the neighbour- | 
hood in 1584, that it was extensively grown here in 1540, when 
Sir Thomas was still but young. That the town was celebrated 
for its culture in 1549, in the time of Edward YI., may be in¬ 
ferred from the circumstances that on its charter being granted 
by that monarch, the Corporation boro three Saffron plants in 
their arms. The town must then at that period have been famous 
for its cultivation. 
“ Ilollingshed, who wrote early in the time of Elizabeth, states 
that the Saffron grown about Saffron Walden (sometimes called 
Waldenbury) was first planted there in the time of Edward III., 
and Lord Braybrooke, in his history of Audley End, states that 
the town took the name of Saffron in the reign of Edward III. 
“ It was a tytheable commodity by the Abbot and Yicar of 
Walden, in 1444, which was sixty-eight years before Sir Thomas 
was born; and at a court held for the manor in 1518, the owners 
of certain hogs found trespassing in the Saffron-beds were pro¬ 
secuted. These facts sufficiently prove that Sir Thomas was not 
the introducer, but that it was cultivated long before his time. The 
popular opinion might have originated in liis successful attempts 
to revive the culture of the plant at a time when it was much 
neglected. 
“ Saffron is still retained in the British Flora as a naturalised 
plant; but I am of opinion that it does not naturalise, as no 
traces of it are to be found in this neighbourhood. The only 
instance in which I ever saw the plant growing wild was when 
this building was erected, and large quantities of earth removed, 
a few plants came up at the west end of the building, but the 
next season they all disappeared.” 
[The name of Saffron is of Arabic origin, and is thus traced 
in Lyte’s “ Herbal,” published in 1578:—“ In the Arabian spech 
Zahafaran, from thence it was called in French and high Doueh 
Saffran; in base Almaigne Safferaen, and in English Saffron'’ 
Saffron was in reputation as a medicine, and was cultivated in 
Greece when Theophrastus wrote, about three centuries before the 
Christian era. Writing of “ odours,” he says that the Saffron 
(Crocinum) prepared in rEgina and Silicia was the best. Pliny 
says that it could not be grown profitably in Italy ; and he also 
states that the Saffron most esteemed was that of Cilicia, especi¬ 
ally that grown on Mount Coryeus ; next in estimation was that 
from Mount Olympus; and, lastly, that from Centuripa in Sicily. 
Columella, Palladius, Varro, and Vegetius, all give some slight 
directions for its cultivation, as does Florentinus ( Gcoponika , 
xi., 26) who w-as a Greek writer on the cultivation of plants early 
in the third century. 
Some have thought, considering that the Romans introduced 
Yines and other plants which they valued into Britain, that 
Saffron might have been one of them ; but we think a toler¬ 
able test of the source from whence a new plant has been im¬ 
ported is the name by which it continues to be popularly known. 
The Vine and the Cherry, for instances, were introduced by the 
Romans, and retain names corrupted from those by which they 
were called by that nation. Saffron retains a name of Eastern 
extraction, and this inclines us to believe that there is some 
truth in the tradition preserved by Hakluyt (ii., 164), that bulbs 
of the plant were smuggled from the Levant by a Palmer, and 
introduced into this country. Gough, Camden, and others of 
our oldest historians, agree in stating it is “ a commodity brought 
into England in the time of King Edward the Third.” A time 
of crusading and pilgrimages. 
Conrad Heresbacli, writing in 1570, states that it was then 
cultivated about Spires and other places in Germany, and three 
years later, our Tusser, whose farming experience was gained 
chiefly in Essex, writes thus, in “ August’s Husbandry,” as if 
Saffron were then commonly cultivated :— 
“ Pare Saffron between the two St. Mary’s days,® 
Or set, or go shift it, that knoweth the ways. 
What year shall I do it, more profit to yieid ? 
The fourth in the garden, the third in the field. 
“ In having but forty foot, workmanly dight, 
Take Saffron enough for a lord and a knight. 
All winter time after, as practice doth teach, 
What plot have ye better for linen to bleach?” 
This needs little comment—a plot of forty feet square produced 
enough for a nobleman’s establishment. The bulbs were taken 
up and planted in fresh ground every third or fourth r ear; and 
during the winter the green leaves of the Saffron (Crocus sativus) 
remaining after the stigmas were harvested, made a clean surface 
on which to outspread the family linen for bleaching.—J.] 
HEATING A COMBINATION OF HOUSES. 
I have a lean-to vinery twenty-one feet long, fourteen feet 
high, and fourteen feet wide, heated by a Thompson’s retort 
boiler. The stoke-hole, &c., occupy six feet, to be between 
houses. I wish to erect a Peach-house in continuation, to be 
heated from the samo boiler. The wall is fifteen feet high, with a 
'* July 22nd, and August 15lh. 
