VIII.] ENGLISH STRAW PLAT. 123 



210. The practice of making hats, bonnets, and 

 other things, of straw, is perhaps of very ancient date; 

 but not to waste time in fruitless inquiries, it is very 

 well known that, for many years past, straw cover- 

 ings for the head have been greatly in use in England, 

 in America, and, indeed, in almost all the countries 

 that we know much of. In this country the manu- 

 facture was, only a few years ago, very flourishing ; 

 but it has now greatly declined, and has left in po- 

 verty and misery those whom it once well fed and 

 clothed. 



211. The cause of this change has been, the im- 

 portation of the straw hats and bonnets from Italy, 

 greatly superior, in durability and beauty, to those 

 made in England. The plat made in England was 

 made of the straw of ripened grain. It was, in ge- 

 neral, split ; but the main circumstance was, that it 

 was made of the straw of ripened grain ; while the 

 Italian plat was made of the straw of grain, or grass, 

 cut green. Now, the straw of ripened grain or grass 

 is brittle ; or, rather, rotten. It dies while standing, 

 and, in point of toughness, the difference between it 

 and straw from plants cut green- is much about the 

 the same as the difference between a stick that has 

 died on the tree, and one that has been cut from the 

 tree. But besides the difference in point of tough- 

 ness, strength, and durability, there was the differ- 

 ence in beauty. The colour of the Italian plat was 

 better ; the plat was brighter; and the Indian straws, 

 being small w!w(e straws, instead of small straws 

 made by the splitting of large ones, here was a round- 

 'ness in them, that gave light and shade to the plat, 

 which could not be given by our flat bits of straw. 



212. It seems odd, that nobody should have set to 

 work to find out how the Italians came by this fine 

 straw. The importation of these Italian articles was 

 chiefly from the port of LEGHORN ; and therefore the 

 bonnets imported were called Leghorn Bonnets, 

 The straw manufacturers in this country seem to have 

 made no effort to resist this invasion from Leghorn, 

 And, which is very curious, the Leghorn straw has 



