412 THE TEAZLE CROP. 



dozen rabbits per acre all that time. It was then broken 

 up again, sown with teazles, and bore all the appearance 

 in the month of June of a crop equal in quantity, though 

 not, of course, in market value, to the one it had before. 

 A wet July, however, supervened, and the whole crop 

 was worthless. 



Teazles are usually looked upon as a very exhausting 

 crop, for what reason it is somewhat difficult to conjecture, 

 as, although we are without any reliable data upon which 

 to base anything more than an opinion, we may fairly 

 assume that a crop which takes two years to complete its 

 growth, and which receives during that period incessant 

 and careful tillage cultivation, and of which only a small 

 proportion is sold off the farm, instead of exhausting the 

 land on which it is grown, should rather improve it, and 

 render it fit for the reception of other more important 

 crops. And this is practically the case, as, owing to the 

 thorough manner in which the land is worked and 

 cleaned during the cultivation of teazles, the straw crop, 

 which is usually taken after it, invariably shows the 

 benefit it receives from the previous preparation the land 

 has undergone. We must recollect, however, that, gener- 

 ally speaking, the field selected for the teazle crop is of an 

 inferior clayey character, which, from its natural poverty, 

 and difficulty of working, has been more or less neglected 

 by the occupier of the land. Although, therefore, the 

 working it has to undergo during the period of the teazle 

 cultivation fits it for the reception of other crops which 

 could not otherwise be profitably attempted in it, still 

 the cultivation of the teazle does not add to the fertility 

 of the soil in its manurial or chemical sense, and it con- 

 tinues to be comparatively unproductive. 



Teazles are a very hardy crop. If land has been properly 

 prepared, and the plants get a good start, the only risk 

 they have to encounter is at the time of flowering, which, 



