IN DOMESTIC ECONOMY AND THE ARTS. 459 



the plants left a foot apart in the row those which are taken up may be trans- 

 planted; but the transplanted roots are never so productive as those which re- 

 main where they are so\vn. [We cannot find it recommended in any of our 

 foreign works, to take up every other row, &c.; and on enquiry of several in- 

 telligent Germans who were acquainted somewhat with the culture of teasels, 

 we learn that such is not the practice in Germany. We presume it is original 

 in American practice, but what benefit arises from it is not stated, and we can- 

 not conceive.] 



Teasels are considered very good when they yield twenty burs to a stalk 

 fifteen is considered a good crop. A careful farmer in Berkshire county often 

 gets fifty but his cultivation is very skilful. They are to be gathered soon 

 after the blossoms fall, and while green, excepting what are reserved for seed. 

 An industrious man will cut six thousand per day ten thousand are some- 

 times cut, but it is an extraordinary day's work. [We should think some of 

 the work rather slovenly done.] 



Teasels are liable to be killed by winter, or rather by thawing and freezing 

 in the spring; particularly from snow water freezing in the heart of the plant. 

 The snow, therefore, in the spring, is to be carefully cleared away from the 

 plant. The plants require to be protected in the winter by a covering of hern- 

 lock branches fltraw is often used, but it is apt to become a harbour for mice, 

 which destroy the plants. A farmer in Stockbridge recommends scattering 

 some grain among the plants, to divert the worm from the teasel. At a dollar 

 and fifty cents, (the present price,) per thousand "under good cultivation, they 

 will afford a fair compensation. The best article can be raised at as little ex- 

 pense as an inferior plant, and the value of it in the market is much greater. 

 It is to be said in favour of this crop, that the high manuring and clean cul- 

 tivation which it requires, makes it an excellent preparation for wheat. 

 The crop, if well cured and managed, is of a durable character and the 

 farmer, therefore, need not sacrifice his product through any unfavourable 

 fluctuations in the market. 



An experienced manufacturer says, that for a woollen facto- 

 ry, the teeth must be full and strong the colour green-yellotv. 

 When yellow, it indicates the teasel has been cut too late. If 

 quite green, it is not good, as the teeth run all one way, and do 

 not come back, not having had sufficient sun. If too yellow, 

 they are too ripe, and their strength is generally lost. 



The teasel crop, in ordinary seasons, proper attention and a 

 fair market, is about as valuable as any grown by the farmer. 

 A correspondent for the "Silk Grower," the correctness of 

 whose statement I learn has been guaranteed by the editor, 

 describes his mode of culture as below, and gives data as to 

 the profits of his crop. Make a deduction of one-half, and the 

 result will be such as to satisfy any man of reasonable desires. 



The soil should be rich, not sandy, but loamy. I begin to sow in the spring, 

 not expecting a crop till a year from next fall. In order that I may have an 

 annual crop, I adopt the following method: Sow two rows about sixteen inches 

 apart, leaving the plants about twelve inches apart if too thick, I transplant 

 them next spring. I then leave a space of four feet for the next year's crop, 

 which is manured by means of a hand-cart. I hoe the plants well two or three 

 times. The same piece of land, if well cultivated, will bear a good crop for 

 several years. To make it still more profitable, I sow English turnip seed on 

 the vacant parts. In this way I raise about two hundred bushels of good tur- 

 nips [to the acre]. It does not cost any more to raise teasels than it does corn. 

 There is no danger of the frost injuring them. I raise from one hundred and 

 fifty thousand to~two hundred thousand to the acre. This year they are worth 

 a dollar and a half per thousand some seasons they command three dollars. 



