158 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



the point of a knife cannot, however, be depended 

 upon in so minute a division. A row of very fine 

 small needles are connected together at their heads 

 with rosin, the distance from each other being regu- 

 lated by the degree of fineness to which the straw is 

 required to be divided. A flattened strip is then 

 passed through these needles, which readily divide 

 it to almost any degree of assignable exility. Another 

 contrivance is used in England for dividing the 

 straw. This is the frustum of a small hollow cone, 

 the lesser end of which has a number of sharp teeth 

 fixed in its opening. These cut the straw as it is 

 pushed through the cone into strips more or less 

 fine, according to the number and proximity of the 

 teeth. 



Some practice and a delicate hand are required to 

 form an even plat with a number of these narrow 

 strips, and to keep them disentangled and in their 

 places without breaking them. Each plat is made 

 with seven, nine, eleven, or thirteen slips of straw ; 

 it may therefore be supposed that some degree 

 of nicety is required in its execution. It is not, 

 however, in the plan of this work to enter into any 

 description of the manner of performing the work. 

 This employment is most usually assigned to females, 

 as being more particularly appropriate to their habits. 

 The Italian plat is considered fine when fourteen or 

 more knitted together do not exceed four inches in 

 breadth. 



Leghorn plat has always been much esteemed in 

 England, as being very superior to our home manu- 

 facture, and it has long formed an article of consi- 

 derable importation, either as made up in the form of 

 hats, or in the simple plat. 



During the late war the importation of this article 

 was attended with so much expense and difficulty, 

 as nearly to annihilate this branch of foreign com- 



