CULTIVATION OF SAFFRON IN FRANCE. 
37 
ART. VII.— ON THE CULTIVATION OF SAFFRON IN FRANCE 
AND AUSTRIA. 
1. Saffron was not cultivated in France before the Cru- 
sades. The bulbs (cormi) from Avignon were introduced 
towards the latter end of the fourteenth century, by a gen- 
tleman of the family of Porehaires, who first planted them 
on his estate at Boyner. The botanical characters of the 
Crocus saiivus autumnalis are well known. The same 
bulb, or connus, flowers once only; and as soon as the 
flower is withered, a bud {caieu) appears, which, after 
having produced several flowers in the autumn of the second 
year, also dies. After the third year the bulbs should be 
transplanted. 
A dark, somewhat loose, sandy soil, in a sunny situation, 
suits it best. Heavy, wet, clayey, and freshly-manured soils 
are unfavourable for its cultivation. The usual manure 
is the marc of the grape. The bulbs are planted at the be- 
ginning of July, about twelve to a square foot. A tempe- 
rature of 14° Fahr. is very injurious to them, in case the 
snow does not lie very high. In the Gatanais, the saffron 
herb dries up in May, but it is collected for feeding cows. 
The saffron bulbs are subject to two diseases; one called 
the tracon, is a kind of dry rot (carie seche,) the other term- 
ed the death {la mort) is chiefly humidity of the glandular 
bodies. Some agriculturists have cured the tracon by 
placing the bulbs for some days in well dried marc of grapes. 
The death (la mort) is incurable and infectious. Two dif- 
ferent kinds of insects are found on the bulbs affected by 
this malady. 
When the flowers are gathered, the stigmata (le jaune) 
are plucked off, dried and preserved in dry wooden boxes, for 
when well protected from dampness, the saffron keeps for 
vears. 
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