PROFITS. 37 



The teasel throws up its heads in July and August ; 

 and these are cut from the plant by hand, with a knife 

 particularly formed, and then fastened to poles for dry- 

 ing : the terminating heads are ready first, and called 

 " kings :" they are larger and coarser than the others, 

 and fitted only for the strongest kinds of cloth, and are 

 about half the value of the best. The collateral heads 

 then succeed, and receive the name of " middlings," 

 and are the prime teasels. Should the season prove 

 moist, great injury ensues ; but exposure to wet for any 

 length of time ruins the head, which, by its peculiar 

 construction, retains the moisture, and it decays. We 

 cannot stack them like corn, as pressure destroys the 

 spines, and a free circulation of air is required to dry 

 them thoroughly; and we seek for barns, sheds, and 

 shelter of any kind, crowd the very bed-rooms of our 

 cottages with them in dripping seasons, and bask them 

 in every sunny gleam that breaks out : this is attended 

 with infinite trouble ,* and as few farmers, who have so 

 many other concerns on their hands, like to encounter 

 it, they become the speculation of the most opulent 

 class of cottagers. When dry, they are picked and 

 sorted into bundles for sale, ten thousand best and small 

 middlings making a pack ; nine thousand constitute the 

 pack of kings. If there be a stock on hand, and the 

 season favorable, there is a sufficiency for the demand, 

 and the price low : if adverse weather ensue, the price 

 becomes greatly advanced, and we have known them in 

 the course of a few months vary from 4Z. to 221. the 

 pack ! but from 5Z. to 71. is perhaps the average price 

 of this article. This variation in value affords the 

 growers a subject for constant speculation a source of 

 rapid wealth to some, and injury to others and we 

 most emphatically call teasels a " casualty crop." Our 

 manufacturers occasionally import teasels from Holland 

 and France, when the price is high in England : this 

 they can do when the home price exceeds 81. 



In letting teasel land, various agreements are made, 

 not necessary to mention in a note like this ; but it is 

 usually taken for two years, it requiring much of this 

 D 



