424 F STRAW, ITS VALUE, AND USES. 



ladies,* The quantity thus used is very considerable, and 

 it furnishes employment for numbers of persons, who 

 might otherwise with difficulty find the means of subsist- 

 ence. 



In Essex, and in other parts of England, straw is em- 

 ployed fpr the purpose of under-draining ; and a machine 

 has been invented, to twist the straw into ropes, for putting 

 into the hollow. But wherever the tops of green furze or 

 whins can be obtained, or the small branches of black 

 thorn, or the peelings of willow, or tiles, or stone, straw 

 should never be made use of. In draining with stones, 

 straw is sometimes laid above the stones, before the earth 

 is thrown in, to prevent it from getting down. If old turf 

 is at hand, it is used by some, placing the grassy side un- 

 dermost. Others contend, that it is better to rob the land 

 of manure, than to annihilate the soil itself. 



Straw is also used for covering hay and corn stacks ; 

 and where it is the practice to cut the wheat crops at a 



* Northumberland Report, p. 188. Even in the remote county of 

 Caithness, the straw manufacture is carried on. The straw is prepared 

 in London, and the plait returned to that market. It employs 260 wo- 

 men and girls, who earn, on an average, about 3 s. per week, or L.2028 

 per annum. This branch of industry, furnishes employment to girls, who 

 are not capable of performing any labour that would require great ex- 

 ertion, and who would otherwise live in idleness, at the expence of their 

 parents. Caithness Report. Addenda, p. 291. On the tame system, 

 the manufacture of straw has been established in the Shetland islands. 

 Straw-plaiting is the principal manufacture in Bedfordshire. Children 

 of ten or twelve years of age, can earn at it from 6 s. to 7 s. per week ; 

 and some experienced plaiters boast, that they can gain even a guinea 

 a-week in the spring season, when the article is most in demand ; but 

 fron, this sum the expence of the straw, and the time employed in 

 sorting, whitening, &c. which are considerable articles, ought to 

 ducted. 



