398 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



braider or plaiter; G, tlic straw sewer; 7, tlie stiifener and shaper; 8, the 

 presser; 9, the wirer and trimmer; 10, the manufacturer— besides several 

 others indirectly employed, as box-makers, &c. 



The farmer grows, cures, cuts and bundles the straw. 

 The straw must be very pliant and thin; and, if white, must be free from 

 spots, or if yellow, must be of a uniform tint, the pipes being small. To 

 produce the white, thin, pliant straw, the farmer sows the white lamas 

 'wheat very thick, in a chalky soil, if possible, so that no wheat will be pro- 

 duced, but instead, long white straw. To produce the yellow straw, a pe- 

 culiar kind of bearded wheat is used in Italy, and is sown also very close 

 or thick upon light soils, so as to have the straws as small in diameter as 

 possible. Great care is required in harvesting the straw so as not to break 

 the pipes. It is cut down carefully. It is then divided at the joints and 

 put into bundles, each bundle being composed of straws of uniform length, 

 and of nearly uniform diameter. These bundles are of the average length 

 of the joints when made of yellow straw or of that which is to be dyed; but 

 for the white straw more care is required and all colored or spotted pieces 

 are cut off, so that these bundles are much shorter than the yellow or col- 

 ored ones. The first joint is used for coarse split straw braid, and for 

 the whole-straw braid known as rough-and-ready. The second joint is the 

 finest; it is used for the finest split straw, and is the choicest part of the 

 straw. The third joint is used for very fine Dunstable braid. The last 

 joint is the longest and the yellowest, and is used for Canton braid. The 

 bundles of straw are boiled in clean water to extract all sap or vegetable 

 coloring matter from them, after which they are carefully' dried in th6^ sun, 

 and when perfectly dried, they are again tied up, boxed or packed in crates 

 and sent to market. 



The merchant buy^ the straw, gets it dj'^ed for fancy braids, gives it out 

 to be braided, buys the braid, gets it bleached or dj-ed, as the case may be, 

 and then either sells the fiuished braid or gives it out to the manufacturers 

 to be made into hats. 



In this country there is but little braid manufactured, for labor is too 

 expensive to compete with the cheap labor of England and Italy. Braid 

 is principally imported from the two countries named, but particularly from 

 England. 



Tlie braid may be classified according to the number of straws woven 

 together to make each kind, the varieties depending on the peculiar weft 

 of the braid, the size of the straw, its color, both natural and dyed. 



2-Straw braid is used only for trimming. 



3-Straw braid is used also for trimming. 



4-Straw rustic, with scolloped edges, is made of either split straw or 

 whole straw. It is used principally by the peasantry of England, hence 

 its name. 



5-Straw braid is called hair braid, being woven as ladies hair is some- 

 times braided. It is made of split straws. 



6-Straw rustic is like the four straw, but is wider, of closer weft, and 

 better looking. 



7-Straw braid admits of many varieties. 



Fine split straw has seven straws in the weft, the fifth side being out. 



