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 22Z. the 
pack ! but from 5Z. to 7 Z. 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 8 Z. 
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 
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