316 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



From the United States Gazette. 



On tlie Manufacture of Straw and Grass Bonnets. 

 No. II. 

 The conduct of the British nation, in cases ol 

 a competition of any of its manufactures with a 

 foreign one, is so different from that of the 

 United States, and particularly in the case of 

 the bonnets, that it ought to be known. The 

 following account is given from the 40th vol. of 

 the Transactions of the Society of Arts of 

 London, for the year 1822. 

 -/2 Friend lo jlgricuUure, Commerce and Manufadures. 



NEW M.iTERIAL FOR STRAW PLAT. 

 The large silver medal and twenty guineas, were this 

 Session given to Miss Sophia VVoodhouse, (Mrs. 

 Wells,) of Wealhersfield, in Connecticut, United 

 States, for a new Material for Straw Plat. Samples 

 of the Straw in its raw, bleached, and manufactured 

 state, have been deposited in the Repository of the 

 Society. 



During the late war the importation of hats 

 and similar articles for female wear, manufactur- 

 ed of the fine straw grown for this purpose, and 

 known in the market by the name of Leghorn 

 plat, was almost entirely put a stop to. The 

 consequence of this was, an extraordinary de- 

 gree of encouragement to our domestic manu- 

 facture of plaited straw, and a proportional de- 

 gree of ease and comfort hence derived, by the 

 agricultural labourers of Bedfordshire, Hert- 

 fordshire, and Buckinghamshire, by the wives 

 and children of whom this profitable occupation 

 was chiefly engrossed. Competition naturally 

 led loan improvement of the fabric by splitting 

 the straw, which had heretofore been used en- 

 tire, and by more accurate selection of the 

 straw itself and more efTectual methods of 

 bleaching. At the conclusion, however of the 

 war the trade of the country fell into its usual 

 channels and bonnets and hats of genuine Leg- 

 horn plat soon found their way into our mar- 

 kets. The Leghorn straw being much sleflder- 

 er than that of English growth, may be employ- 

 ed entire for the finest articles, on which ac- 

 count the plat is rendered more even, pliable, 

 and durable than that of equal fineness made 

 from aplit straw : it is also greatly superior in 

 color. A further advantage is, that the spiral 

 >coil of Leghorn plat of which a hat or bonnet 

 is formed, admits of being joined by knitting the 

 adjacent edges together instead of overlapping 

 and sewing them, as must necessarily be the 

 case with the English plat : on account of 

 which difference of construction, the Italian 

 bonnets and hats are of the same uniform thick- 

 ness, whereas, the English are an unpleasant 

 alternation of ridges and depressions, and re- 

 quire, besides, a considerable greater quantity 

 of plat. These real grounds of preference, in- 

 dependently of the caprice of fashion, soon be- 

 gan to operate unfavorably on the English 

 straw plat, and in a short time put an end to it 

 as far as regards the finer fabrics. 



Another cause also has operated in producing 

 the depression of this manufacture, namely, the 

 greater cheapness of labor on the continent in 

 comparison with England. The best Hertford- 

 shire straw may be, and actually is sent to 

 Switzerland, where it is platted, is then return- 

 ed to England, paying an import of duty of 17 

 shillings per pound, and may, after all, be sold 

 at 25 per cent, cheaper than plat made in this 

 countrv. 



Such being the state of things the society re- 

 ceived with much pleasure a communication 

 from Miss Sophia Woodhouse, the daughter of 

 a farmer residing at Wealhersfield, in the Slate 

 of Connecticut, stating that she had manufactur- 

 ed some bonnets in imitation of Leghorn, iVom 

 t!ie stems of a species of grass growing spon- 

 taneously in that part of the United States, and 

 popularly known by the name of Ticklemoth. — 

 The communication was accompanied by a bon- 

 net of her manufacture, and a few dried spe- 

 cimens of the entire grass. The bonnet being 

 submitted to the inspection of the principal 

 dealers in such articles, was declared by all of 

 them to be superior even to Leghorn in the 

 fineness of the material and the beauty of its 

 color ; and ffiat the introduction of straw to this 

 country, either by importation or growing it 

 here, would probably be of public advantage, 

 by supplying a raw material superior to any 

 other, and which probably may be manufactur- 

 ed to great advantage in those parts of Great 

 Britain and Ireland where labor is cheap. 



The reward mentioned at the head of this 

 article was, in consequence, voted to Miss 

 Woodhouse, on conditions which should put the 

 Society in possession of some seed of the grass, 

 and also of the process employed by the candi- 

 date to bleach the straw. Both these condi- 

 tions have been complied ivith ; the seed re- 

 ceived has been distributed during the summer 

 of the present year, to various persons in 

 Great Britain and Ireland, and has germinated 

 very successfully, both under cover and in the 

 open air. In the latter situation it has thrown 

 up a thick mat of long and fine herbage, but 

 has not flowered, it is therefore probably pe- 

 rennial ; and if it endures our winters, will, in 

 all likelihood, prove a valuable pasture grass. 



The treatment of the stems for the purpose 

 of manufacture, is thus described in the words 

 of Miss Woodhouse herself: 



We.athersfield., Conn. Dec. 20, 1823. 



I regret that the proper season for cutting 

 the grass had elapsed before I received the 

 communication from London. The small quan- 

 tity which I had previously gathered, I trans- 

 mit herewith to the Society. Part of it is pre- 

 pared for platting. It may be considered as a 

 specimen of the usual fineness of the grass, as 

 it has not had a straw, coarse or fine, selected 

 from it. 



I am able to give no account •f the method 

 of cultivation having never known it cultivated 

 in this country, It grows spontaneously and 

 abundantly in our meadows. It is more com- 

 mon in fields that have not been highly manur- 

 ed, but that are rather reduced in strength and 

 richness of soil ; in a few fields it has been ob- 

 served, that gypsum and manure have destroy- 

 ed this grass and introduced clover. 



I am able to procure but little of the seed. — 

 As it has never been sown in this country, very 

 little of it has been preserved. 



1 have prepared it for manufacture in the 

 following manner: — I have cut it in the fields 

 from the time of its flowering, until the seed 

 is nearly matured ; that part only is used, 

 which is between the upper joint and the top 

 or panicle ; on this 1 pour boiling water and 

 then dry it in the sun ; this operation 1 repeat 

 once or twice, or until the leaves which sheath 

 t!ie stem come off. I then bleach if, but for 

 tigs purpose I have used no other apparatus 



than what every farmer's house furnishes. In 

 the first place I prepare some soap and water, 

 in which 1 dissolve pearl ash until it can be tast- 

 ed ; in (his solution I moisten the grass, and 

 then set it in an upright position in the bottom 

 of a cask ; I then burn brimstone in the cask by 

 means of a small heated kettle or dish of coals, 

 and close the cask at the top with blankets so 

 as to confine the smoke. This fumigation I 

 continue until the grass moistened by the solu- 

 tion of pearl-ash, &c. becomes dry, which will 

 require about two hours. During this opera- 

 lion, the kettle will generally require to be re- 

 heated, or the coals to be replenished once or 

 twice. The grass is now ready for platting. — ■ 

 After this is performed and the bonnet is sewed 

 together, I fumigate it again with brimstone in 

 the same manner as before, being careful to 

 place the bonnet in a situation in which it will^ 

 be penetrated by the smoke ; the bonnet is now 

 finished by pressing, for which purpose, I have 

 used only a common smoothing iron. The on- 

 ly caution necessary in this operation is, not to 

 have the iron heated so much as to scorch the- 

 gra&s. SOPHIA WELLS. 



{To be continued.) 



From the New Bedford Mercury. t 



LOCUST TREES. 

 Mr. Lindsey, — You will particularly oblige 

 some of your readers by giving publicity to the 

 following directions for prepariug and plantiogi 

 the Locust Seed. Want of information on th^' 

 subject has caused the neglect which has takea 

 place, in the cultivation of this valuable tree. — 

 This method may be depended upon, as it was* 

 derive d from a source of higU respectability ogp 

 Long island. F. . 



BIRECTIONS. 



Put the seeds into a vessel over night, pour 

 hot (not boiling) water on them. In the morn> 

 ing, take them out and spread them — select 

 those that have swelled, for planting; returoi 

 the remainder into the vessel, repeating the 

 same process the following, and so on for two 

 or three successive nights; taking care each 

 morning to separate the swelled seeds from the 

 others. What remain ivill probably be imperfect. 



Sow or plant the swelled seeds in rows three 

 feet apart, on good ground, about the time of 

 planting beans — to be hoed and dressed the 

 same as beans. 



They are very tender when young, and 

 slight frosts will greatly injure, if not kill them. 



A correspondent at Little Compton informv* 

 us, that a person in that place came near losing 

 a valuable Cow, by her having got a large 

 piece of turnip in her throat, which she couli 

 not swallow. Various ways were tried to ex- 

 tract the turnip ; but the only practicable metb^ 

 od was lo cut a hole and take it from her win^' 

 pipe. The wound was carefully closed up, and 

 the cow fed on corn and potatoes, with a little 

 hay ; and is now entirely recovered. — Ibid. 



We should be glad to knot* if the following remedjf 

 was tried : 



Take a quart of water, a little more than milk warm, 

 and put in it a large spoonful of soft soap, and stir it 

 well, and turn it down the animal's throat, about on* 

 third at a time. This by causing the throat to be slip- 

 pery enables the creature to dislodge the root or otber 

 substance. See N. E. Farmer, vol. i. pjige 258. 



