112 SAFFRON. 
after the fire is lighted. The first heat is strong, 
in order to evaporate the moisture; after an 
hour, when it is formed into a cake, it is turned, 
and the same degree of heat continued for an- 
other hour. 
moderate heat kept up for 24 hours, during 
which time the cake is frequently turned in or- 
der to dry it thoroughly; this having been ac- 
complished, it is fit for the market.” The finest 
saffron, however, consists simply of the dried 
stigmas, and is not formed into a cake, and bears 
the name of hay saffron. 
The cultivation of the saffron crocus was prac- 
tised in very ancient times. The Greeks and the 
Romans made use of saffron for perfuming halls 
and theatres, for scenting salves and balsams, 
and for seasoning dishes ; and the latter people 
sent to the Levant for it in early times, before 
they had learned to cultivate it for themselves. 
The cultivation of it is supposed to have been 
introduced to England at the time of the Cru- 
sades ; and was long carried on in Essex, parti- 
cularly in the vicinity of Saffron-Walden, to 
which it gave its name ; and was conducted also 
in Cambridgeshire, Herefordshire, and Suffolk, 
but eventually became confined to Stapleford. 
The saffron of the market is supplied from Eng- 
land, Sicily, France, and Spain. The English is 
the best ; and the Spanish is the worst, being 
generally injured with oil in which it has been 
dipped to ensure its keeping. But all cake saffron 
is occasionally or even often adulterated with 
intermixtures of the fibres of dried beef, or of the 
petals of the safflower, the golden thistle, and the 
common marigold; and it may be tested by in- 
fusing a piece in hot water, when the true saffron 
or expanded stigmas will become easily distin- 
guishable from the intermixed ingredients. 
The soil most suitable for the cultivation of 
saffron is rather rich and of medium texture. 
The bulbs should be planted in June, at distances 
of 6 inches from row to row, and of 3 inches from 
bulb to bulb; and the crops are taken, year after 
year, simply by gathering the flowers when they 
expand, One plantation should generally stand 
for three years; and, at the end of that time, 
the bulbs should be taken up, and a new planta- 
tion formed. Miller computes the average pro- 
duce per acre of dried saffron, at about 2 lbs. for 
the first year, and 24 lbs. for the two subsequent 
years, —the quantity in the third, however, 
being considerably greater than that in the 
second. 
Saffron is used both in medicine and as a dye. 
It has a sweetish penetrating odour, a bitterish 
warm taste, and a rich, deep, red orange colour. 
It acts as a stimulant and antispasmodic, but is 
liable, in large doses, to produce convulsive 
laughter and some dismal consequences ; and is 
seldom given, in modern practice, except as a 
qualifying principle of other medicines. The 
colouring principle of it is soluble in water and 
alcohol, and is of itself a bright yellow, but be- 
The fire is then reduced, and a 
SAGO. 
comes first blue and then lilac by the action of 
sulphuric acid, and green on the addition of 
nitric acid; and in allusion to the great diversity 
of tints which it assumes under different circum- 
stances, it has been called Polychroite. 
SAFFRON (Bastarp). See CartHamus. 
SAFFRON (Meapow). See Concuicum. 
SAGH,—botanically Salvia Oficinalis. A hardy, 
evergreen, economical undershrub, of the labiate 
order. It is a native of the south of Europe, and 
was introduced to Britain toward the close of 
the 16th century. Its stem is quadrangular, 
branching, bushy, and from 12 to 24 inches high ; 
its younger branches are whitish and downy ; 
its leaves stand in pairs on footstalks, and are 
ovate-lanceolate, crenate, wrinkled, and some- 
times of a reddish or purplish tint; and its 
flowers grow in six-flowered distant whorls, on 
long terminal spikes, and havea fine blue colour, 
variegated with white and purple, and bloom 
in June and July. Some of the chief of many 
varieties of this plant are the common or red,— 
the green,—the small-leaved green,—the broad- 
leaved or balsamic,—the wormwood,—the green, 
with variegated leaves,—the red, with variegated 
leaves,—the Spanish or lavender-leaved,— and 
the painted or party-coloured. 
Sage was formerly in extensive use and high | 
reputation as a medicinal plant; and it still 
holds a place in the Edinburgh pharmacopceia, 
and in works on medical botany, as a stimulating 
carminative, and slightly astringent drug; but 
it has quite lost the confidence of intelligent 
practitioners, except merely for making a grate- 
ful tea, in cases of great nausea, during febrile 
complaints. It continues, however, to be culti- 
vated in the kitchen garden as an aromatic plant, 
and for flavouring various dishes. It loves a 
dry and moderately fertile soil, in a rather shel- 
tered situation; and may be propagated from 
slips or cuttings, planted in May or June, in 
dibble-rows, at distances of 6 inches from row to 
row and from plant to plant. Only the outer 
and strongest shoots should be taken for cuttings ; 
and the plants, from the time of their becoming 
fit for use, should be so kept and gathered from 
as always to have regular bushy heads. 
SAGE (Jurusatem). See PHuomis. 
SAGITTARIA. See Arrow-HEAD. 
SAGAPENUM. A medicinal gum, imported 
from the Levant. The plant which yields it is 
supposed to be a ferula; but is not certainly 
known. The gum has a taste and odour similar 
to asafoetida, but weaker ; and occurs in aggiu- 
tinated drops or masses, which have a slight 
translucency, a brownish yellow colour, and a 
horny fracture. It possesses antispasmodic and 
emmenagogue properties; and is sometimes ad- 
ministered in the same sort of cases as asafoetida, 
but does not at all equal that drug in power. 
SAGO. The farinaceous pith of a number of | 
endogenous tropical trees. These trees are most 
plentiful in the islands of the Indian Archipel- 
