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Show CR a gentle Fire, and to turn their Cakes every half Hour, till thoroughly dry : for the doing of which as it ought, there are requird full twenty-four Hours. S The Owners arefure to chufe for their own Ufethe largeft, plumpeft, andfatteft Roots: but Jeaft of all do they approve the lonoeft pointed ones, which they call Spickets, or Spi ds ; for very {mall roundorflat Roots In Drying the larger plump Chives they ufe are fometimes obferv’d to flower. nothing more, but towards the latter-end of This is the whole Culture of Saffron in the Crop, when thefe come to be fmaller, they the Country above mentioned ; and we have fprinkle the Cake with a little Small-beer, to only nowto confider the Chatges and Profits make it {weat asit ought ; and they begin now which may be fuppos’d, one Year with anto think, that ufing two Linnen-cloths next the other, to attend that Branch of Agriculture : cake, inftead of the two innermoft Papers, Andof thefe I have drawn upthe following may be of fome Advantage in drying: But Computation for one Acre of Ground, accord. this Practice is follow’d as yet but byfew. ing to the Price of Labourin this Country. Their Fire may be made of any Kind of Fuel: but that which imoaks the leaft is beft, and Charcoal, for that Reafon, is preferr’d to Rent for three Years ———~ any other. Plo What Quantity of Saffron a firft Crop will produce, is very uncertain: fometimes five or fix Pounds of wet Chiyes are got from one Rood ; fometimes not above one or two; and c mes not enough to make it worth while her and dry it. a ime oe Bagvsm gy) But this is always to be obferv'd, that about five Pounds of wet Saffron go to make one Pound of dry, for the firft three Weeks of the Crop, and fix Pounds during the laft Week : And now the Heads anted very thick, two Pounds of dried may, at a Medium, be allow’d to an 2 for afirft Crop, and twenty-four Pounds for the two remaining ; the third being confiderably larger than the fecond. In order to obtain thefe, there is only a Repetition to be made every Year of the Labour of Hoeing, Gathering, Picking, and Drying, in the fame manneras before fet down, without the Addition ofanything new; e that theylet Cattle into the Fields, after the Leaves are decay’d, to feed upon the Weeds 5 or perhaps mowthem for the fame Ufe. About the Mid/ er after the third Crop gathered, the Roots muft be all taken up 1 tranfplanted : The Management requ ot which, is the fourth 'T hing to be tr of. To take up the Saffron Heads, or break the G d (as their Term is) they fome- times plowit, fometimes ufe a forked kind of J loe, call da Pattock, and then the Ground is har owd once or twice over ; dtring all 4 Time of Plo ng or Digging, and owing, fifteen or more People will find enough to follow and gather the Heads turn’d up. are next to be carried to the Houfe in ‘ks, and there to be clean’d andrafed : This is : re de hing the Roots thoroughom Earth, and from the Remains of old Roots, old Invelucra and Excrefcencies ; and thus Hey) become fit to be planted in new una immediately, or to be kept for fome hout Danger of {poiling. The Quantity of Roots taken up, in Proportion to thofe which were planted, is uncer- t a Medium, it may be faid, that psn . a aS which happen’d i ind, and in Breaking-up 2 CR eee 1f nothing happens amifs during thefe firft two from each Acre maybe had twenty four Quars Hours, they ckon the Danger to be over 5 ters ofclean Roots, all fit to be planted, for they have nothing more to do but to keep ass “ee CR ee Hedging Spitting andfetting the Heads Weeding orParing the Ground Gathering and Picking the 2 Flowers —--———— § Drying the Flowers ——-—— Inftruments of Labour for three Years with the Kiln, about — —— Ploughing the Ground once, 2 Saffron-beads, becaufe in many large Tracts of Reafon, that their Ground was tir’d with Ground thefe muft at length balance one an- them. other, while the Quantity of Ground planted But to return to the Crocus : Befides thofe yearly continues the fame, which has been Roots already mention’d, there will be three pretty much the Cafe for feveral Years paft. or four {mall Bulbs form’d upon the upper Dr. Patrick Blair defigning to treat con- Part of the Root, and fome underneath, which from the firft Appearance aflure the rourd cerning the Crocus in his VIth Decade of his Pharmaco-Botanologia, did, in the Year 1725, Shape ofits Parent Roct, and haye no Tapfend to me the following Queries : Root belonging to them ; thofe on the upper Part of the Root rarely emit fo much as a 1. After what Manner the Species are proFibre, but receive their Novrifhment immepagated ? diately from the o/d Root ; but thofe on the 2. Whether the Tap-Root fprings firft, or under Side fend forth many Fibres al! around, the Bulb ? by which they draw their Nourifhment from 3. At what Seafon the Leaves do {pring the Ground; thefe being parced from the old forth ? Root muchfooner than the other, ftand in To thefe Queries I fent him the following need of fic Organs for receiving their Nourifhment. Anfwer: : 1, As to the Propagation of the Species ; This is only by the Roots or Off-fets, which the old Roots produce in great Plenty ; for I never faw any thing like a Seed or a Seed-Ve[fel produc’d, altho’ I have let ftand great Quantities of Flowers purpofely to try. 2. As to the Query, Whether the Tap-Root {pring firft, and the Bulb be afterwards form’d? As foon asthe Roots begin to fhoot upwards, there are commonly two or three large Tap-roots {ent forth from the Side of the old Root, which willrun down-right two Inches and and Harrowing twice — 5 Gathering the ‘on Heads 12 a half or more into the Ground : At the Place where thefe Bulbs firft come out from the old 00 one, will be form’da Bulb, fometimes (tho’ not Rafing the Heads 12 —— Lotal Charge i 233 T2900 This Calculation is made upon Suppofition, that an Acre of Ground yields twenty-lix Pounds of neat Saffron in three Years, which I ftated only as a mean Quantity between the greateft and the leaft, and therefore the Price of Saffron muft be judg’d accordingly ; which I think cannot be done better than by. fixing it at thirty Shillings per Pound, fincein very plentiful Years it is fold at twenty, and is fometimes worth between three and four Pounds : At this Rate, twenty-fix Pounds of Sayron are worth thirty nine Pounds ; and the neat Profits of an Acre of Ground producing Saffron, willin three Years amount to fifteen Pounds thirteen Shillings, or to about five Pounds four Shillings yearly, This, I fay, maybe reckon’d the neat Profit of an Acre of Saffron, fuppofing that all the Labour were to be hird for ready Money: but as the Planter and Family do a confider~ able Part of the Work themfelves, fome ot this Expence is fav’d ;_ that is, by planting Saffron, he may not only reafonably expect cl ar about five Pounds yearly per Acre, but alfo to maintain himfelf'and Family for fome Part of each Year: and it is upon this Suppofition only, that the Refult of other C tions can be faid to have anytolerab Deg of Exaétnefs, but the Calculations themf€ are undoubtedly very unaccurate. I have faid nothing here conc Charge in Buying, or Profits in always, as you will hear prefently) and this Tap-Rovt decays. The Bulb will increafe in its Bignefs, till at laft it quite falls off, and is thenleft intire ; which commonly happens in April, when the Green begins to decay: many But times thefe tap or carroty Roots never produce any Buibs, but always retain the fame Figure, and for ever after, I believe, are barren ; for I planted a Parcel of thefe carroty Roots four Years ago in a little Bed, where they have ever fince remain’d, but have not produc’d me one fingle Flower, notwithftanding they have produc’d a numerous Offspring of the fame carroty Roots. And the People about Saffron-walden are well apprizd of this Barrennefs, and therefore throw awayall fuch Roots when they make a new Plantation; but as this Change of the Root is not peculiar to the Saffron only, per- mit me to digrefs a little to give you fome Account of this Matter. In the Parifh of Fu/bam near London, the I have fometimes taken up fome, through the Middle of which hath been a Root of the Gramen Caninuim or Couch gras, which fome People have imagin’d had strength enough to force its Way through the Crocus Root; but the Truthis, the Root of the Gra/s clotely adhering to the old Root of the Crocus, juft at the Place where the young Roots were emitted, thefe young Roots being quick of Growth, inclos’d the Rect of the Gra/s : And thus I have feen feveral Roots run through each other in the fame manner. But befides thefe Of {ets mention’d ; directly upon the upper part of the Reot is one large Root form’d of equal Bignefs with the old one ;- and this is the time that the Root is Radix Gemina, as Tournefort calls it ; for they are not fo at any other Seafon, and therefore I think ita very improper Appellation: For whenthe new Roots are perfe€tly form’d, the old ones with their Cyats fall off and dic, and leave the new Roots allfingle: This has occafion’d feveral People to doubt of what Zournefort had faid ofthe Roots, till 1 took up fome Plants at that Seafon, and with them the two Roots of equai Bignefs, i.e. the o/d one at the Bottom, and the wew one at the Top. Dr. Bair alfo happening in viewing a Root to be furpr with a different Appearance from what he had feen before or heard of, fent me another Letter. The manner of the Root was thus: From the upper Part of the Bulb, where it fends forth all the Leaves withina common Tunicle, atthe Exit there was an Appendix about an Inch and anhalfJong, about the Grofnels of a large Turkey or Goofe-quill, cylindrical and blunt, without the leaft radical Fibre by wh Gardeners us'd to drive a great Trade in the it might receive the Nourifl Funquil cr Narciffus juncifolius flore multiplict, ace the greate{t Quantity of thofe Roots was rais'd for Sale as perhaps was in any Part of Eng/and, and turn’d to as great Account for the Mafter as any Crop they could employ their Ground in, till within thefe feven or eight Years; fince which time moft of their Roots have turn’d carroty, and fo provd barren, or have produc’d only fingle Flowers, fo that the Gardeners being herebydifheartened, have thrown them out intirely, neglecting to cultivete them, fatisfying themfelves withthis polifh’d, and bluifh in the Surface, c of feveral circular Lines, when cut tranfverfly; white, with an hard greenifh Centre like a Carrot whenit hath puth Stem ; not Unlike the Stolones of fome running Root, fuch as the Adints below-ground, only the Extremity defcended obliquely inftead af afcending to fendforth Leaves to produce a new Plant : And what is moft remarkable, this did not happen to one or two Plants, but to the whole Bundle, which were above twenty difting Sets, differing in nothing but majus and ae MINUS 5 |
