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XIX. PLANTS CULTIVATED FOR THEIR USES 

 IN DOMESTIC ECONOMY AND THE ARTS. 



THE plants cultivated for their uses in domestic economy 

 and the arts, constitute a very numerous class. They often 

 yield large returns by way of profit; but they are rarely culti- 

 vated in fields, and for the most part they fall more legitimate- 

 ly within the province of the gardener than the farmer. We 

 shall, however, notice in this place, such plants only of this 

 order as may be raised by the farmer to a profit. 



FULLER'S OR CLOTHIER'S TEASEL-D1PSACUS FULLObTM. 



This plant is a native of Europe, ancFis cultivated with emi- 

 nent success in Germany, and also in various districts in Eng- 

 land. It is an herbaceous biennial, growing from four to six 

 feet high, prickly and rough in the stem and leaves, terminated 

 by the large head which is used in the manufacturing process 

 for raising the nap on woollen cloths, which is done by the 

 crooked awns of the head, for which purpose they are fixed to 

 the circumference of a broad wheel, which is turned round 

 while the cloth is pressed against them. Many ingenious and 

 scientific men have attempted substitutes in machinery made 

 of steel; but there is a natural elasticity about the vegetable 

 that cannot be imparted to the steel; the latter, it is said, even 

 when made in the most perfect manner, is liable to tear and 

 otherwise injure or damage the cloth. 



The teasels held in the highest estimation are raised in Ger- 

 many, in some parts of which great pains are taken in their 

 culture those raised in England and many parts of Europe, 

 being of an inferior character, command a less price yet they 

 are not unfrequently imported into this country as the German 

 teasel. We have it in our power, to put an end, at once and 

 forever, to this species of imposition; and by a very simple 

 process, that of cultivating the teasel and supplying our own 

 manufactories. Our soil and climate is admirably adapted to 

 its culture, and all that is necessary, we conceive, to produce 

 an article equal to the German teasel, is the obtaining of true 

 seed, and proper care in its culture and preparation. We 

 have been shewn some teasels raised in Connecticut, as fine, 

 beautiful, plump and large, as the best of the imported, and 

 they were pronounced by an eminent manufacturer as equal, 

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