38 
CULTURE  OF  SAFFRON  IN  PENNSYLVANIA. 
only  here  example  this  in  having  quinia  and  morphia  in  solution 
of  known  strength,  of  chalk  mixture  dry  mixed,  ready  for  the 
liquid  adjuvant,  of  roots,  seeds,  barks,  ready  contused,  etc. 
Finally,  in  regard  to  finances,  in  that  department  devoted  to 
book-keeping,  to  collecting  your  dues  and  paying  your  debts, 
simplicity  of  system,  promptness,  fidelity  to  one's  own  interest, 
exactness  in  dealing  with  others,  joined  to  a  spirit  of  concession 
and  liberality  in  disputes,  occur  to  me  as  executive  means  of  suc- 
cess. General  economic  law  governs  all  business,  others  as  well 
as  ours,  and  the  study  of  how  our  most  successful  neighbors  gain 
their  ends  under  this  law  will  afford  many  a  suggestive  hint  of 
how  to  go  and  do  likewise. 
If  at  the  end  of  life  we  confess  to  ourselves  bitterly,  ours  to 
have  been  an  unsuccessful  one,  let  us  not  look  abroad  as  the 
reason  for  it,  but  at  home,  and  charge  it  to  the  absence  of  those 
natural  attributes  necessary  in  all  to  insure  success  in  any  walk 
of  life. — Proceedings  Amer.  Pharm.  Assoc.,  1866. 
NOTE  ON  THE  CULTURE  OF  SAFFRON  IN  PENNSYL- 
VANIA. 
By  Charles  A.  Heinitsh. 
Crocus  Sativus.— Saffron,  until  the  last  few  years,  was  cultivated 
in  Lancaster  County,  Pa.,  to  considerable  extent,  particularly 
amongst  the  German  portion  of  its  inhabitants,  for  its  use  as  a 
flavoring  and  coloring  ingredient  in  soups  and  tea,  and  as  a 
domestic  remedy  for  measles  and  other  febrile  diseases,  besides 
making  an  ornamental  flower-bed  in  their  gardens. 
Saffron  requires  a  rich  soil  to  grow  it  abundantly.  The  usual 
mode  of  cultivating  it  is  to  prepare  the  bed  by  digging  deep 
and  filling  up  with  manure  and  rich  soil,  planting  the  corms  or 
bulbs,  after  separating  the  young  from  the  parent,*  about  eight 
inches  apart  in  rows,  (similar  to  onion  sets,)  in  the  month  of 
August.    Care  is  necessary  to  keep  the  beds  free  from  weeds. 
The  flowering  season  commences  about  the  middle  of  Septem- 
ber, and  continues  until  the  beginning  of  October,  according  to 
the  "locality  of  the  bed.  The  flowers  are  picked  off  early  in  the 
morning  ;  the  stigmas  separated  and  dried  in  the  shade.  This 
*The  young  corms  or  offshoots  are  attached  similar  to  those  of  colchicum. 
