STRAW-PLAITING — A LOST ESSEX INDUSTRY. 189 



The straw, being thrust over the cone, is pressed against the 

 sharp-cutting edge of the cogs and so split into as many splints 

 as there are cogs. 



The resultant splints would, of course, retain their form as 

 segments of a circle, therefore, to flatten them, they were wetted 

 •and passed between the rollers of the " mill," (Fig. 4) or, if the 

 plaiter did not possess a mill, under a hand-roll, such as 

 shown. (Fig. 5.) 



The " mill " has two beech-wood rollers, the amount of 

 pressure between them being regulated by a turn of the screw 



FIG. 4. — WOODEN MILL FOR FLATTENING THE STRAW " SPLINTS." 



above, acting upon loose chucks which press upon the axle of 

 the upper roller. 



Having passed through the mill, or under the hand-roll, and 

 been damped, the splints are taken by the plaiter )generally held 

 in her mouth till she wants them) and then deftly and rapidly she 

 plaits them, first graduating the lengths so that the projecting 

 ends allow fresh splints, one by one, to be added to the plait till 

 she judges that she has made twenty yards of plait. On this point 

 she satisfies herself by the rough and ready method of placing the 

 plait against her nose with one hand and with the other stretch- 

 ing the plait the full length of her arm ; repeating this twenty 

 times, she considers she has made twenty yards of plait. 



