AMERICAN HONEY PLANTS 255 



TEASEL (Dipsacus fullonum). FULLER'S TEASEL. 



Fuller's teasel is a European plant which was for a time cultivated in 

 this country for the heads of stiff chaff with hooked points, used for rais- 

 ing the nap upon woolen cloth. Although no longer mentioned as a culti- 

 vated plant, it has escaped from cultivation and persists as a weed in 

 some places. 



Fig. 13.5. Tarweed blossoms. 

 During the time when it was generally cultivated in some parts of 

 New York, the late G. M. Doolittle secured more than $1,000 per year from 

 less than 100 colonies, credited with being largely from teasel. (American 

 Bee Journal, July 21, 1886.) The high price of teasel in the market led to 

 a great boom for a few years. A beekeeper writing in the American Bee 

 Journal in 1878 stated that the honey-yielding qualities of teasel were 

 equal to basswood. He described the flavor of the honey as excellent, the 

 color white and transparent. Reports of carloads of teasel honey shipped 

 to Thurber & Co., are referred to and the statement made that it is one of 

 the greatest honey-producing plants in existence. 



In the same Journal (Aug. 18, 1886), G. M. Doolittle writes a long arti- 

 cle giving the history and cultivation of the plant. From this article the 

 following extracts are taken : 



"Bees work on teasel all hours of the day, and no matter how well 

 basswood may yield honey, a few bees will be found at work on teasel. 

 A bee that works on teasel is readily distinguished from those that 

 work on basswood, by the abdomen being covered with a white dust. 

 Black and hybrid bees work on it in larger proportion than the Ital- 

 ians." 

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