12 NOTES ON THE SAFFRON PLANT
from half an acre to three acres in extent. This is attested by
quotations from the ancient records of the town, 1st Henry VIII.,
"Qd diversi tenentos hujd manerii trent porcos suos in gardinis crocd."
10th Henry VIII. "Itm. 9d. Johes Geyner & Robertas Rosale, trent
porcos suos, vagantes ad largu in gardinis crocor'ten & in blade &
graine." Hackluyt in 1582 alludes to Walden as the principal seat of
the saffron culture, and Camden5 and Gerard6 describe it as being in
the highest perfection at the period of their writings. From the
former writer they copy what is certainly to be received with reserva-
tion, that barley will grow after saffron for eighteen years in succession
without any additional manure, and that saffron will grow after it
again. A skilful farmer understands the rotation of crops, and what
plants will follow each to advantage; and a practical agriculturalist,
here on the spot alluded to, says that four crops of barley may follow
each other, but not without extra manure. Hackluyt, Camden,
Gerard, and Ray all mention Walden as the chief place of saffron
cultivation, from whence it gradually extended in nearly a northern
direction through the villages of Cambridgeshire to Cambridge. In
1531 the town accounts of Cambridge show that saffron was grown in
Cambridge and Barnwell to a great extent. In Barnwell-field there were
twelve acres; the prior of Barnwell had ten acres; and in Cambridge
fields there were eight acres and three roods planted. At this time
the price varied from sixty shillings to twenty shillings according to
good or bad seasons. In John Norden's account of Essex, 1594, is
written "About the town of Walden groweth great store of saffron,
whose nature, in yelding her fruite, is verie straunge, and bindeth
the laborer to greate trauaile and dilligence; and yet at length
yealdeth no small advantage to recomforte him agayne."
Camden says, "The fieldes here (Walden) on every side smell
sweetly, and smile pleasantly with saffron." About half a century
ago, in trenching the triangular piece of ground, now the lawn on the
western side of the Museum, a small plant of saffron came up,
possibly from a latent imported seed, but otherwise not to be
accounted for. That the plant has been confounded with Colchicum
autumnale (the "Meadow saffron") is evident by the description of
it given by various authors, ancient and modern. Dioscorides, a
physician in the earliest century of our era, describes it as an acrid
5"Britannia" vol. i. p. 426. The passage is quoted at length in Gibson's "Flora of Essex,''
p. 312.—Ed.
6"Herball," Ed. 1597, p. 123; Ed. 1633, p. 152. So also William Bulleyn in his "Govern-
ment of Health" (1588)—''Our English hony and safron is better than any .... "—Ed.