412 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



. If we were to consider all the useful applications of straw, and enter 

 into the details of the manufacture of each, although interesting- it would 

 consume more time than would be willingly given to the subject this 

 evening. 



Such would involve tlie manufacture o^ papier mache. 



The substitution of grass for bristles in the manufacture of brushes to a 

 limited extent. 



Of straw mats for testing tjie chemist's retorts. 



Paper box manufacture from straw boards. 



And a variety of ornamental fancy articles constituting quite an import- 

 ant trade in the aggregate. 



Simply to show the importance of some of those little thingB which are 

 hardly ever noticed, considering them too insignificant in value to estimate 

 commercially, it may he mentioned that a former superintendent of the bar 

 saloon at the Astor House, estimated tiiat during five months of the year, 

 three bunches a week of straws are consumed. These bunches contain 

 100 each, and cost 25 cents each. For 22 weeks 66 bunches would amount 

 to $16. One thousand dollars a year would be a small estimate for the 

 city of New York expended in one year for these straws. 



Some one more curious may estimate the number of gallons which pass 

 through these straws, and the amount of physical force, in horse powers, 

 required to operate these pneumatic contrivances so as to elevate such a 

 quaptity of fluid the required height. 



Dr. R. P. Stevens gave an interesting desci'iption of the curiosities he had 

 met with during a late trip in Pennsylvania. lie saw three vessels made 

 of straw which were used to wash dislies in, and straw pans used in mix- 

 ing bread ; straw mats at the duors and straw roof on dwellings and barn's. 

 He was forcibly struck with the fact that these manufactures of straw con- 

 tinue almost unchanged from one age to another. Our Saxon forefathers made 

 the same things that are made to-day by the Grermans of Pennsylvana. 



The follo.wing interesting article from Harpers Magazine was then 

 presented : 



STRAW BONNETS. 



Among the minor branches of New England industry, one of the most 

 interesting is the manufacture of straw bonnets. A distinguishing feature 

 cf this is, that it is to a great extent a "domestic manufacture'' in the 

 strictest sense of the phrase, a large part of the work being done by 

 families at their own homes, and only the finishing part performed in largo 

 factories. 



Straw bonnets and hats were originally made in Italy. The Italian, or, 

 as they are more commonly called, the "Leghorn" hats, are made of 

 slender straws from a species of bearded wheat, which is grown expressly 

 for the hat manufacture. The straw is prepared in a manner similiar to 

 that which will be described further on in this article. The making of 

 these Leghorn hats gives employment to large numbers of the Italian pea- 

 santry, and an old convent, now and then, has to suffer transformation into 

 a straw-hat establishment. It was not long before the Italian hat was 

 adopted by the French, and a little over a hundred years ago it was intro- 



