428 HORTUS GRAMINEUS WOBURNENSIS. 



straws should be plaited the reverse way of the common English 

 split straw-plait. In the English plait, the straws are flattened 

 by a small hand-mill made for the purpose, but the Leghorn plait 

 has the straws worked without flattening, and pressure is applied 

 after the plait is made. These two points are essential to be 

 observed by those who wish to rival the finest Leghorn manufac- 

 ture. By reversing the common mode of plaiting, the fingers have 

 a much greater power in knitting firmly and intimately the straws, 

 and the round or unflattened state of the straws allows of their 

 being more closely knitted ; a circumstance that gives an appear- 

 ance of fineness to the real Leghorn plait, which, had the straws 

 been flattened or milled, would have appeared coarse, and the 

 manufacture of a less firm texture. Specimens of plait made of 

 the culms of the above-mentioned grasses proved this clearly ; 

 and to derive all the advantages of a finer material than the 

 Italians possess, and which is to be found in the culms of our 

 perennial grasses, it appears essential that the superior manual 

 process of the Italians in plaiting, which they have acquired by 

 experience and long-continued practice, should here be adopted ; 

 and there appears to be no reason to doubt but that the manu- 

 facture of straw bonnets may be brought to a greater degree of 

 perfection in England than it has yet arrived at in Italy, and that, 

 if properly encouraged, Britain, instead of importing, will export 

 the finest manufacture. 



