The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1903-10-14
THE rEAsel.
Specially Of skaneateiss which Opes
was an Industry - Much I,nportance.


4 Specially Of Bkaneateies which Once
was an Industry - Much Isnportance.
Whatever may be said Of skan-
eateles." remarked Mr.. II. Thur1ow
Of that New York town OF strange
Mans. ut raises teaseis, which for
many years. could not be successfully
produced In any other portion Of this
broad land Of all sorts Of products"
Somebody wanted to know what q
teasel was.
"It is a plant" continued Mr.. Thur
low. "whose burr is used to produce
a pile On cloth, and for certain kinds
of fabrics nothing has yet been found
to take its place. Forty years or more
ago the teasel was In great demand,
and as they could not be raised any.
where except In small area about
SkaDeateles. the industry was very
considerable within n radius of ten
miles of my town. Teasel raising be
gan as long ago as eighty years and
at one time II represented a business
of half n million dollars year and
over 800 people were engaged In II.
To-day not more than a hundred are
In 1t, and the amount has similarly de.
creased. This is owing rather TO the
production of smoother cloth than the
adoption of substitute for the teasel,
because. as 1 said, they cannot get
substitute for It. Steel has been tried,
but the finest points they can make
are rough and jagged compared with
the fine.hooked points which nature
puts on the teasel burr. and which
are necessary in producing the proper
nap OH the cloth.
"The teasel is sown in the spring
~ soon as the ground is ready, and the
plant is left to grow till the frost kills
1t down. The root remains, and the
following season the plant grows from
this and bears the burrs. which are
out in August, basketed and wagoned
TO sheds, where they are housed and
trimmed ready for market. An acre
Of ground will produce from 10000
TO 100000 teasels, running ten pounds
to the thousand and worth now sew
enty-five cents to 81 thousand. nj.
though 1 have seen them worth as
much as So thousand. / remember
buying 100000 teasels at fifty cents
n thousand from man who had held
them for twenty-one years, and had
at one time refused $3.50 a thousand
for them. They require three or four
years TO dry; then they are trimmed.
the stems cut to about six inches, and
then are packed in boxes, 10000 to the
boz. The burrs vary in length from
an inch to six inches, and they are
designated by sizes as Buttons
Mediums and Kings those of from
an inch to an inch and a half being
choice. A great many are shipped
abroad, and several years ago sent
lot to Moscow.
"Some people say the bull thistle
and the teasel are the same, but IL they
will examine the two they will find
that the prongs of the wild teasel are
straight, while those of the real thing
| are hooked, which is all the difference
in the world for the work they have to
do. In the woolen mills a teasel will
last about twenty-four hours, and some
of the big mills of New England have
used ms high as 100000 a day, but
they don't use them that way now.
Very comfortable fortunes were once
made in teasel raising, too. but that
time is past also. Most of the product
is now used in the making of blankets
and coarse cloths. Skaneateles Is out
of 1t, to large extent. as Oregon has
come into the field with even n better
teasel than we can produce, and we
are turning our plowshares to other
uses. Any visitor to onr town may
see teasel farms and the teasel clip
pers at their benches shipping away
with their scissors, but the business
is no longer what 1t once was. and it
isn't improving."-New York Sun.