May 1, 1864.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. 



ON THE STRAW PLAIT TRADE. 449 



coloured or spotted straws are thrown out, which, however, are not 

 altogether wasted, as they answer for dyeing in some cases. Marketable 

 bunches are formed of the various sizes and qualities, the bundles so 

 made up fetching one halfpenny to one shilling per bunch ; they are 

 afterwards sold to the plaiters at the various markets of the districts, 

 or in the immediate neighbourhood, the factors always residing within 

 the plaiting districts. 



There are straw-growing districts in Essex, but as the soil is unfa- 

 vourable for the growth of good straws, great quantities are sent there 

 to be made into plait from Bedfordshire and the other districts. 



The growth and preparation of straws are most important branches 

 of the " straw trade," and to the attention given to them during the last 

 fifty years, much of the excellence of English-made plait is to be attri- 

 buted. The districts were originally limited, but the advantages of 

 straw-growing have led to the present large extension of the districts in 

 the counties enumerated ; the possibility of obtaining a good crop of 

 wheat, with a good crop of straws, having led on many a farmer to their 

 successful cultivation. 



The art of making plaits from wheat straw was first introduced into 

 England about two and half centuries ago. In Agnes Strickland's 

 " Lives of the Queens of Scotland," we read that Mary Queen of Scots, 

 when travelling in Lorraine, in France, noticed that women and children 

 were employed in the plaiting and making of straw hats, and in the 

 districts where this light and pleasant handicraft was practised, the 

 peasantry were much better off than in other parts where it was not. It 

 is said that the thought struck her that the introduction of this useful 

 art into Scotland would be attended with much benefit to her own sub- 

 jects. She therefore prevailed upon some plaiters to return with her to 

 Scotland ; this was about the year 1562. The troubles in which she 

 was afterwards involved prevented her fully accomplishing her object ; 

 but her son, James I., took a lively interest in his mother's plaiters, and 

 transplanted them to Luton, in Bedfordshire. While,' howeA r er, they 

 remained in Scotland, they taught their art, and plaiting still survives 

 to the present day in the Orkney Islands, though the quantity now 

 made there is very limited. 



These plaiters are supposed to have arrived in England about the 

 year 1603, and must have taught the peasantry the art of making whole- 

 straw plait. About a century after this, it is stated in " Oldinixon's His- 

 tory of England," that plaiting had, in 1724, greatly extended, and that 

 several thousand plaiters found profitable employment both in Bedford- 

 shire and Hertfordshire. In the reign of Queen Anne, large quantities 

 of hats were made from the whole-straw plait, a taste for hats having 

 sprung up at Court, as shown in the costumes of that reign in the milk- 

 maid hat, and, later, in the succeeding reigns of the Georges, in the 

 gipsy hat. The heaviness of the article, however, led to efforts for 

 improvement, in order to produce a lighter description. At first the 



VOL. IV. Q Q 



