As an early nineteenth-century commercial crop, the fuller's teasel is unique, seemingly designed by nature specifically for napping woolen cloth and yet considered by some growers to be more trouble than it was worth in terms of time and effort vs. profitability. As one of some 400 heirloom plants and herbs preserved in Old Sturbridge Village gardens, it nevertheless stands tall—garnering considerable interest and frequent questions from visitors. Here are some answers to some of those questions.

Why grow teasels? Agricultural digests from Federalist Period New England make frequent mention of this "species of thistle, the heads of which are of use to raise the nap on woolen cloth." While the plant was not native to North America (and was first imported from England and France), Samuel Deane's New England Farmer of 1822 wholeheartedly endorses its introduction: "This is a plant which ought to be cultivated in this country, in order to facilitate and improve the manufacture of woollen. And from some trials that have been made it appears that it may be done without difficulty." The article goes on to detail the proper methods of sowing teasel seed in well-prepared soil, hoeing at least twice to cut out weeds, thinning the young plants to about one foot apart, and otherwise expending considerable effort so that, "the second year after sowing, the plants will shoot up heads, which will be fit to cut about the beginning of August. …"

How are they grown?Edward Hooper's The Practical Farmer (1840) offers even more practical advice concerning the hook-laden heads: "collect them as soon as they begin to turn brown; then expose them to the sun till they are quite dry, taking care they are not exposed to rain." Volume 5 of The New England Farmer (1826-27) gives explicit directions on harvesting "by means of a knife with a short blade. A pair of strong gloves is necessary to this operation. The heads attached to a few inches of the stem are tied in handfuls, and put in dry sheds, when they are taken out and exposed to the sun daily till they become perfectly dry." The expected yield is 150,000-250,000 heads to the acre; "to save seed," the process is simple: "keep a few of the best heads; when ripe, separate by flail."

How are teasels used? Volume 14 of The New England Farmer (1836) asserts that "no satisfactory artificial substitute for the teasel has ever been invented, though many have been tried. It is used … for raising a regular nap upon cloth; its long barbs being drawn over the cloth repeatedly till they have combed out all the knots, and made it perfectly smooth." The Country Dyer's Assistant (1798) praises the plant for its plethora of hooked tips that are "strong enough to pick up the fibers, but not strong enough to tear the fabric. Although many attempts have been made to substitute metal wire for teasels, there are still certain woolens which require napping by the teasel."

Teasel heads, although occasionally used individually in the manner of a wire brush, were most often used collectively, "a number of them in a hand, made for that purpose." A "hand," in this case, refers to a cross-shaped wooden holder to which a dozen or more teasel heads are affixed in a semi-circular shape by means of string. The use of such "teasel crosses" required the talents of skilled "nappers" to produce properly finished cloth. In America, where good nappers were generally scarce, "teasel gigs"—or machines employing the rotary principle—gained popularity in the early 1800s and did most of the best local napping. (By the 1830s, teasels were being grown in New England and New York, supplementing the imported supply.)

Where's the profit? Teasels were a "progressive" cash crop, usually grown by the wealthier farmers, which is why they're interpreted as being grown by Salem Towne at the Village. They could be very profitable, as witnessed by a court case in western Massachusetts in which a grower's contract to provide teasels to a mill at $4.25/thousand was upheld. Fluctuations in market prices, however, were considerable.

Thomas Ward of Shrewsbury, Mass., recorded his experiences growing teasels in his farm journal, beginning with an April 22,1830, entry: "John and Jennings, in my absence, had plowed about an acre and a half by the schoolhouse for oats, carted 12 loads of manure onto the flat, sowed the Teasle seed by the Henshaw barn, got the manure onto the back garden, etc." Weekly and monthly accounts documented endless days of hoeing and weeks of weeding, fence building, strawing, digging and setting out, plowing, planting, and more hoeing until July 23, 1831, when Ward: "Picked 580 teasles." The picking continued until August 26, when Ward recorded selling his harvest "to Joshua Clapp of Clappville" (now Rochdale, Mass.) at the price of 75 cents per thousand heads. Ward's conclusion: "poor business raising teasles at this price."

Old Sturbridge Village Visitor Fall, 2001