FULLER’S TEAZLES FOR WOOLLEN-MILLS.

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume XXX, Issue 6, 20 June 1925, Page 392

FULLER’S TEAZLES FOR WOOLLEN-MILLS.

At the present time all the supply of teazles used by the local woollen-mills in dressing certain classes of woollen goods is imported from Europe. It appears that when the Mosgiel Company's works were established many years ago seed of the fuller's teazle (Dipsacus fullonum) was imported, and the plant grown for a while on the Taieri Plain, but'its cultivation was not maintained. At the suggestion of Hon. G. M. Thomson, M.L.C., of Dunedin, the Department of Agriculture procured some seed from England, with a view to testing its economic production. The seed was sown in the spring of 1923 in the grounds of the Department's depot at Christchurch, and, the plant being a biennial, the cropripened in the summer of 1924-25. The following brief report by Mr. F. E. Ward, Instructor in Agriculture for Canterbury, gives information of interest : “ Some plants remained in the original rows in which they were sown ; others were transplanted into rows 2 ft. apart and 1 ft. between the plants. The small plants transplanted well, and all grew to a height of about 6 ft. A large number of teazles set, about half of which were too small for commercial size. From counts taken from a few plants, I estimate that anything from 100,000 to 200,000 commercial teazles could be grown per acre. The Kaiapoi Woollen Company imported last year over 71,000 teazles, the price being £2 15s. per 1,000 in England and £3 12s. per 1,000 landed here. These were procured from a Leeds agency, but, like the bulk of commercial teazles, were grown in southern France. Blankets, rugs, and tweeds are the goods on which teazles are mainly used. Four machines are installed at Kaiapoi, and on each of these there are 90 teazles in a row, and about 24 rows, or, in all, over 2,000 teazles on a machine. As there are ten mills in operation in the Dominion the annual consumption must be large. The teazles grown at the Christchurch depot compare favourably with the imported article, though they were on this occasion allowed to get rather too dry before gathering. Undersized heads are of no use, but larger ones can be cut if they are of about the same diameter. It would appear that teazles could be profitably grown in New Zealand, but the country’s requirements could be supplied by one or two growers.” Mr. Thomson is further interesting himself in the matter, holding that even small matters of this kind merit attention in the Dominion’s economic interest.