Published by 
The Rural Publishing Co. 
333 W. 30th Street 
New York 
The Rural New Yorker 
The Business Farmer’s Paper 
Weekly, One Dollar Per Year 
Postpaid 
Single Copies, Five Cents 
Y„l. T.XXIY. No. 4302. 
NEW YORK. ABRIL IT. 1015. 
No. 4302. 
CULTIVATION OF THE TEASEL. 
A Curious Local Crop. 
HARACTER OF THE PLANT.—The teasel is a 
peculiar plant. There are about 150 species. 
Most of them are natives of Southern Europe. 
None of them is ornamental and only the one which 
is known as the fuller’s teasel is worthy of cultiva¬ 
tion. This is grown for its flower heads, which are 
used for raising the nap on woolen cloth. The plant 
is a biennial. In its first year it forms a good-sized 
hunch of leaves. In its second Summer it sends up 
o stalk five or six feet in height, with numerous 
bunches, at the ends of which the teasels are 
formed. At the flowering season pale purple blos¬ 
soms appear at about the middle of the head and 
as they decline others are gradually formed above 
and below this point until the entire head has 
bloomed. Between the blossoms are strong but very 
elastic curved and sharply pointed bracts or awns. 
When used in mills the heads are fastened on a 
cylinder which revolves in one direction while the 
cloth passes over it slowly in the opposite course. 
The hooks are strong enough to raise the fibers, but 
are so elastic that they will not injure the cloth. 
They can he cleaned and used over and over. For 
coarse grades of cloth machines are used to some 
extent, hut for the finer qualities no satisfactory 
substitute for the teasel has been found. The head 
at the top of the straight stalk is called the “king.” 
It is the only male teasel on the plant. The heads 
at the ends of the later¬ 
al branches are called 
“queens” and those at 
the ends of the subdi¬ 
visions of these branch¬ 
es are known as “but¬ 
tons.” The latter are 
smaller and much more 
numerous t h a n the 
queens. If the king is 
removed before its pol¬ 
len falls upon the other 
heads the teasels will 
not be injured for man¬ 
ufacturing p nrpose s, 
but their seed will not 
germinate. W here a 
branch starts from the 
main stalks the leaves 
grow around it in such 
a manner as to form a 
cup. If it is injured so 
that it will not hold 
water the heads above it 
will not be perfect. The 
w i 1 d teasel, w h i c h 
abounds in many places, 
is a vigorous plant and 
produces numerous heads hut as its awns are straight 
they are worthless and it is a troublesome weed. 
TIIE AMERICAN INDUSTRY.—The cultivation 
of the teasel in this country dates from about 1S40, 
when a family named Snook brought seed from their 
former home in England and planted it at Skan- 
eateles. Onondaga County, N. Y. The conditions of 
soil and climate proved highly favorable and the 
teasel soon became one of the leading crops of the 
vicinity. It laid the foundations for several large 
fortunes, and its beneficent influence upon the de¬ 
velopment of the town is still very much in evi¬ 
dence. The general cultivation of the crop did not 
extend many miles from the point at which it was 
first grown, but for a long period Skaneateles had 
the reputation of producing more teasels than any 
other locality in the world. Although the teasel in¬ 
dustry has greatly declined, Skaneateles has re¬ 
mained the center of production and distribution 
for the United States, and the quality of its product 
has never been surpassed. A small quantity is 
“’•own in Oregon but marketed from this point. In 
older to obtain certain sizes and qualities of heads 
lor specific purposes some teasels are imported, but 
this apparent evil is offset by the fact that there 
is also a considerable exportation of heads of dif¬ 
ferent grades. 
A LOCAL CROP.—At one time there were eight 
or nine dealers in teasels in Skaneateles. Now there 
are not half so many, and of these only one is doing 
a large business. Kellogg Brothers, growers, man¬ 
ufacturers, importers, and exporters, handle nearly 
all the teasel business of the country. As a matter 
of historical interest, and as an example of great 
success won by persistent effort commenced very 
early in life, which should encourage the boys and 
young men of today, a few facts relating to this firm 
seem to be worthy of record. Its members, Thomas 
C. and Walter H. Kellogg, have been identified with 
the teasel industry for 40 years. While yet small 
boys they worked out of school hours in teasel fields. 
Their father was a lawyer, but by accident he be¬ 
came interested in the teasel business in which he 
was quite successful. Long before they attained their 
majority the two brothers started a teasel factory. 
Their business prospered, but as they were minors 
they employed an older brother to travel for them 
and look after their legal affairs. When they be¬ 
came of age they took entire charge. They grew 
teasels and prepared their own and the crops of 
other growers for market. They employed skilled 
helpers and worked with them in the field and the 
factory. They inspected every teasel they sold. The 
largest users in the United States are among their 
customers, and they import from, and export to, 
several foreign countries. Probably nine-tenths of 
the teasel crop of New York is grown in Skaneateles. 
Compared with its former production that of the 
present day is small. There are but a few fields 
that exceed six acres in extent. The total area 
given to the teasel in the town is estimated at about 
150 acres. 
SOIL AND CULTURE.—A well drained clay bot¬ 
tom of medium fertility seems to be best adapted to 
the teasel, but a fair return can be had from any 
good and fairly dry soil. On poor ground the crop 
is earlier, but the yield is less than it is on better 
land. It does well after corn. The preceding crop- 
should be well manured and be kept free from 
weeds. As the leaves and stalks, which form much 
the larger part of the plant, remain on the ground 
•lie teasel is not an exhausting crop. On land that 
is. well adapted to it, and that is kept properly cul¬ 
tivated, it can be grown for several years in suc¬ 
cession, but a short rotation is much to be preferred. 
The ground is plowed about six inches deep and is 
harrowed, dragged, and rolled enough to make the 
surface soil very fine. A small quantity of com¬ 
mercial fertilizer, preferably one which has a rather 
high percentage of phosphoric acid, distributed with 
a drill at the time of putting in the seed, will be a 
great benefit. The seeding is done about the first 
of May. It was formerly done earlier but it has 
been found best to defer it until the ground is rea¬ 
sonably dry and warm. A few growers sow by hand 
but a small machine for sowing is generally used. 
Rows are made three feet apart. The old practice 
of transplanting in September has been discarded. 
It involves a good deal of work and it lessons the 
vigor of the plant. The quantity of seed used by 
different growers varies from four to 12 quarts per 
acre. If the seed is good, and properly distributed 
in a well-prepared soil, the smaller quantity named 
will be sufficient. 
CARE OF THE FIELD.—Thorough cultivation is 
of great importance. It serves the double purpose 
of directly promoting the growth of the teasels and 
of keeping down foul plants which are very injurious 
to the crop. The use of a horse cultivator is com¬ 
menced when the plants are small and is repeated 
several times during the growing season. The plants 
are hoed two or three times. At the first or second 
l oeing they are thinned to stand six or eight inches 
apart in the row. This work is done with a hoe. 
There is little or no hand weeding. In the second 
year a cultivator is run between the rows once, early 
in the season, and the crop is then left to mature. 
The teasel is not entirely hardy, and when the cold 
is severe and there is but little snow it sometimes 
Winter-kills. Covering lightly with straw in the 
Fall was formerly practiced, but the present method 
of production is to plant corn five or six feet apart 
in the teasel rows and allow the stalks to stand 
through the Winter. This tends to keep the snow 
from blowing off the fields, and there is the added 
benefit of about half a crop of corn. 
HARVESTING.—During its second year the tea¬ 
sel grows rapidly and reaches maturity. When the 
blossoms begin to fall, which is usually about the 
first of August, the awns are strongest, and the har¬ 
vesting should be 
promptly begun. The 
heads do not ripen at 
the same time and it is 
necessary to go over the 
field two or three times 
to obtain them at their 
best. The harvest sea¬ 
son occupies about two 
weeks. The stems are 
cut. about six inches be¬ 
low the heads, with 
s h a r p , short-bladed 
knives which the work¬ 
men draw t.o w a rds 
themselves. As they are 
cut the h e a d s are 
dropped into baskets 
from which they are 
emptied into wagons 
which have been taken 
to the field. The hands 
of the harvesters are 
protected by strong 
gloves, and great care 
must be used to keep 
the sharp awns from 
coming in contact with 
the face. The work is light, but it requires quick¬ 
ness and dexterity. 
CURING.—When the wagons are loaded the tea¬ 
sels are taken to the building in which the crop is 
to be cured. Here the heads are spread, about 10 
inches deep, on scaffolds which are built in tiers 
with a space of about .30 inches between them and 
far enough apart on the floor to give room to work 
among them conveniently. By means of doors and 
windows a free circulation of air through the build¬ 
ing is secured and controlled. If the weather is 
favorable the drying is completed in from 10 to 14 
days, but if it is damp considerably more time is 
required. The heads can remain on the scaffolds 
indefinitely but some growers put them in large 
piles on the floor when they are thoroughly cured. 
Before they can be sold the teasels must be trimmed 
and graded. As a rule this work is done at the fac¬ 
tory during the Fall and Winter. The heads are 
spread on benches, the stems are shortened to four 
or five inches in length, and the spurs around the 
base, which would tear the cloth if allowed to re¬ 
main, are clipped off. Strong shears, in form re¬ 
sembling those used for shearing sheep, are em¬ 
ployed for this purpose, and the fingers of the work¬ 
men are protected by a leather covering. As they 
are trimmed the heads are thrown into baskets from 
which they are emptied into bins or boxes. If any 
imperfect heads are found they are destroyed and 
