remember to keep your Fire gentle and clear. We may note, that a Gatherer
of Saffron has this Year about ten Pence _per_ Drain, and that about six
Pounds, or six Pounds and a half of raw Saffron will dry to a Pound; but
generally they allow only six Pounds of wet Saffron to a Pound of dry
Saffron: but that depends upon the Dryers, who sometimes out of a
Willingness to get Money, do not dry it so much as they ought to do. It is
a Rule among the Saffron-Planters in _Cambridgeshire,_ that sixteen
Quarters of Saffron-Roots, or Heads, will plant an Acre; and that a full
Acre this Year produces about seventeen or eighteen Pounds of dry Saffron,
tho' the common rate is about sixteen Pounds.

About this time you have many green Melons upon the Vines which will not
ripen; and besides, if they would, that Fruit would now be too cold for the
Stomach: therefore it is advisable to pickle them, to make them imitate
Mango's, which some prefer before Mango Cucumbers. The following is the
Receipt to pickle them.



To pickle green Melons, in imitation of Mango.

The Mango is a Fruit brought to us from the _East Indies,_ about the Shape
and Bigness of a small Melon; it has a large Stone in it, and comes to us
in a Pickle, which is strong tasted of Garlick, but approved by most
People. When we gather Melons for this use, we must wash them and cut them,
as directed for the Mango Cucumbers, then lay them in Salt and Water,
shifting the Salt and Water every four and twenty Hours, for nine Days
successively; after which, take them out and wipe them dry, and put into
the inside of each, which has been already scraped, the same Ingredients
directed for your Mango Cucumbers, and tie them up: then boil your Pickle