The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1891-07-03
THE TEASEL.
A Plant Employed in the Manufacture Oa
Cloth.

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be made into cloth, it goes through
many processes before it energies in
shape fitted to be cut into garments. II
is sorted secured and dyed as a begin
ming; then it is picked free from burrs
and knots, beaten with sticks, sprinkled
with olive oil, and goes through the
scribbling, carding and slubbing ma
chimes.
BY this time the wool has turned into
soft, weak thread, and, after being
spun by machines into a fine but firm
thread. it is woven into cloth.
But this does not finish it by any
means After the cloth is woven it is
beaten with hammers moved by ma
chinery, in trough filled with soap
and water, and afterward with clear
water
Then the cloth coes through the full
ing machine. by which it is pounded or
rolled in thick mixture of soap and
water, causing the fibres of the wool to
felt together so that the threads can
not be seen, which process shrinls the
cloth half in width and fourth in
length. After fulling, the cloth is again
secured, and then teaseled, by which
the nap is made.
When you visit a wooden mill you will
be sure to see the teaseling machine
and the teasels which are used-as
many as three thousand sometimes in
dressing one piece of cloth.
Then you will be told that these
teasels are natural product and not
an artificial one, as those unacquainted
with wooden manufacture might be led
to suppose, and though wire cards have
repeatedly been tried for this purpose,
these teasels are still holding their
place as the only suitable material for
etfectually raising the nap without any
undue damage to the fiber.
large amount of teasels are grown
in August or September they are trans
planted, and twelve months after this
the first crop is gathered.
The heads must be gathered before
all flowers have doomed, else the
points are dried too much and lose their
elasticity. The older and drier ones
are always preferab bic to the fresh ones
This plant is found growing wild in
middle Europe, but is then useless for
manufacturers, because in that state the
points are not bent.
In England the cultivated plant is
grown chiefly in Yorkshire. Russia
also raises good crop in Poland and
the Crimea. 1t is naturalized in this
country, and grows in hedges and
roadsides from Massachusetts to
louisiana but is not cultivated to any
extent.
The heads, after having been cut off
the plant, generally pass at once into
the hands of the dealers. The latter, in
France, travel in July about the dis
tricts mentioned above, and buy the
crops in the field.
The dealer then sorts the teasels,
taking out those which are crooked. too
thick, or worm-eaten; he removes the
husks, cuts the stems to one uniform
length, ranges them into first and
second qualities, divides these again
into eight or ten sorts, according to
their length, and packs them into large
casks and sells them at so much per
thousand; a cas1 of the smallest size
holding as many as one hundred and
fifty thousand, while one of the larger
sizes only containing ten thousand, but
all weigh four hundred and fifty pounds
to the casll. In Russia they are sold
by the cask, in other parts of Europe
by weight.
AS the teasel is a cultivated produc-
ton of the thistle plant. it follows that
rs for n, fa AZ, g,
enhanced by careful cultivation. The
hooks, which are small, bent leaflets of
the flower, are generally set vertically
in transposed rows, though in the French
they grow in the form of spiral round
the central cone, and closer at the bot
tom than the top.
This leaf1et has strong rib at it's
back, which is both stiff and elastic;
the sides form, 50 to speak, wings,
which are attached to the softer central
core, and thus form an elastic spring,
which enables the hook to spring back
in work. Each hook also leans against
its predecessor, SO that, when the force
which pulls it is too strong, it turns a
little sideways, and thus lets the resist
ance slip off This is one of the princi-
pal qualities of the natural teascl, and
has never been reproduced in artificial
limitations.
In the well-grown tcaseis, tire hooks
are situated horizontally, and vertically
to the spindle, while in the inferior ones
they incline as much as forty degrees.
The French teasels are pretty regu-
lar: the hook is horizontal, stronger and
longer than others, and dries better,
without losing its elasticity. The Ger
man kind is less regular or strong, but
on that account is often preferred for
fine qualities of cloth, which requires
more careful treatment.
Dampness is injurious to all teasels,
which soon mould, and then lose much
of their elasticity.-Golden Days.
Hamlet He Was.
Amleth, as it was formerly written,