1S4 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



latter but those yielding both prove very advantageous 

 to the farmer. The seed used is either that known as 

 red lammas or white chittim wheat, according to soil 

 and aspect, and is sown broadcast, or drilled, according to 

 circumstances, and cultivation is carried on in the usual 

 manner. When harvest draws nigh, great care is re- 

 quired by the grower, it being necessary to commence 

 cutting before the flag of the straw falls. If very wet 

 and stormy weather sets in, the straws become rusted 

 or spotted; or, if the opposite weather, dry and hot, and 

 the crop remains uncut, the straws change red and be- 

 come harsh. The first favourable opportunity is taken, 

 extra hands are set on, the crop is rapidly cut, laid out 

 to dry before being tied into sheaves, carted and stacked 

 with all despatch as soon as ready. The result of this 

 attention is in general seen in obtaining bright and 

 clear straws that will pay the farmer for all his trouble. 

 An acre of wheat will yield in a good season five to 

 eight loads of wheat, of five bushels to the load, and 

 from fifteen hundred to a ton of cut straws, of the value 

 of six to eight pounds sterling the ton, clear of all ex- 

 penses. At the present time the price is double, owing 

 to the past wet and stormy summer, good straws being 

 so scarce, many of the best growers, with all their care, 

 having lost their crops. 



The farmer disposes of his straw to men known as 

 straw factors; these draw and cut the straws in his 

 barn. Each sheaf is taken between the knees, and the 

 straws are drawn out a handful at a time ; the ears are 

 then cut off", and carefully laid together on one side. 

 After a sufficient number have been drawn and cut> 

 large bundles are formed, weighing 20 to 25 lbs., and 

 these are carted to the home of the factor, to undergo 

 another "cutting" process, which is generally per- 

 formed by boys, who earn from 2s. to 5s. per week. 

 In the act of cutting each straw, the sheath in which it 

 is encased is taken off. Two joints of the straw are 

 preserved for plaiting ; the other, or root joint, is 

 cast away. 



There are straw-growing districts in Essex, but as 

 the soil is unfavourable for the growth of good straws, 

 great quantities are sent there to be made into plaits 

 from Bedfordshire and other districts. 



The growth and preparation of straws is a most 

 important branch of the " straw trade," and to the at- 

 tention given to it during the last fifty years much of 

 the excellency of English-made plaits is to be attri- 

 buted. The districts were originally limited, but the 

 advantages of straw-growing has led to the present 

 large extension of the districts in the counties enume- 

 rated, the possibility of obtaining a good crop of wheat, 

 with a good crop of straw, having led on many a farmer 

 to their successful cultivation. 



So many novelties in straw plait have been intro- 

 duced of late years by the trade, that Tuscan bonnets 

 have declined as articles of wear — the beauty of English 

 straw plait, as displayed in the new patterns, leading 

 the public to give them the preference. And, although 



the reduction and subsequent abolition of the duties on 

 foreign Tuscan has brought that article into competi- 

 tion with the English straw manufacturer, no injury 

 has been sustained by the straw trade. Tuscan is 

 chiefly confined to girls' hats at the present time, and 

 its low price since the removal of the duty has com- 

 pletely abolished the making of English Tuscan from 

 Italian straws. 



At the Exhibition of 1851, the skill of the English 

 plaiter was fully shown, and since that date plaiting 

 has continued to progress, not so much in the invention 

 of a number of new plaits, as in the superior quality 

 and extent of the mannfacture. The newest feature is 

 the production of various coloured plaits of excellent 

 patterns, suitable for ladies* hats, the last and popular 

 colours being produced in mixed and dried plaits, as 

 mauve, magenta, &c. Many valuable patterns have 

 been made by mixing rice straw with dyed straw, as 

 rice and black, rice and mauvCj rice, black, and brown, 

 and similar patterns. 



The progress made in English plaiting, up to the 

 present time, has been remarkable in the varieties pro- 

 duced to meet the public taste and the necessities 

 of the million. And although foreign straw plaits 

 from Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland, have been 

 brought to compete with them, they have nearly all 

 failed in this respect. A few single plaits of a choice 

 character are used for white goods, but the greater 

 portion, from the inferiority of their colour, are only 

 suitable for dyeing purposes. Straw plait is a domestic 

 manufacture, carried on in the cottages of the agricul- 

 tural labourers of the three counties of Bedfordshire, 

 Hertfordshire, and Buckinghamshire, and portions of 

 Essex and Suffolk. The plaiters are the wives and 

 children of the labourers ; only a few aie men. No 

 plait is made in factories. 



The trade of Luton, and the straw plait trade gener- 

 ally in England, is assuming greater importance every 

 year. At present, in all its numerous ramifications, it 

 is most extensive, and when the bonnets and hats 

 made in London are added, the annual returns will not 

 fall short of igl,250,000. During the past fifteen 

 years a large shipping trade has been carried on, 

 chiefly, in the first instance, with the United States of 

 America; later, in addition to this, large quantities of 

 English straw goods are shipped to Canada, the West 

 Indies, and Brazil, and to the continent. While Prance 

 supplies England with her newest fashions in bonnets, 

 she in return is supplied with the latest fashions in 

 hats from England. 



But, while this straw plait trade has been shown 

 to be of importance here, it is almost of equal im- 

 portance in several of the States of Europe. France, 

 Belgium, and Switzerland carry on an extensive 

 business, chiefly for local consumption. In the Black 

 Forest straw plaiting occupies a large number of per- 

 sons. In Italy the annual value of the production is 

 over one million sterling. As it was in Venetian Lom- 



