THE TEAZLE. 41 



seeds are scattered about and swept from the barns 

 where the heads are dried, into the yard, and vege- 

 tate in profusion on the dung-heaps and the by-ways 

 where dropped, yet I have never observed it grow- 

 ing in the surrounding hedges. 



Teazles are cultivated in some of the strong clay 

 lands of Wilts, Essex, Gloucester, and Somerset. 

 The latter county is supposed to have grown them 

 earliest. The manufacturers rather give the pre- 

 ference to those of Gloucester, as lands repeatedly 

 cropped are thought not to produce them so good 

 in some respects. Strong land, thrown up as for 

 wheat, and kept dry, affords the best teazles. Weed- 

 ing, draining, and other requisites, demand a con- 

 stant labour through great part of the year ; and 

 hence a certain expense is incurred : but remunera- 

 tion, loss, or great profit, circumstances must de- 

 termine ; nor, perhaps, is there any article grown 

 more precarious or mutable in its returns. 



The teazle throws up its heads in July and 

 August ; and these are cut from the plant by hand, 

 \vith a knife particularly formed, and then fastened 

 to poles for drying : 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 suc- 

 ceed, and receive the name of " middlings," and 

 are the prime teazles. Should the season prove 

 moist, great injury ensues; but exposure to wet for 

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



