THE TECHNOLOGIST. [Mat 1, 1864. 



450 ON THE STRAW PLAIT TRADE. 



contrivances for the splitting of straws were of a clumsy character. 

 Some plaiters, indeed, cut the whole straw with a knife, and made a 

 kind of split plait, which realised as much as a shilling per yard, or 20s. 

 per score (at the preseut time it would he ahout 4d. per score). A con- 

 siderable quantity of fancy work was made ahout this period at Dun- 

 stahle by straws, so cut, being made into what was called " laid-work." 

 It consisted of the split straws being flattened, and afterwards pasted on 

 wood or other firm substances ; various pretty and useful articles in the 

 shape of baskets, work-boxes, mats, &c, were thus made. Dyed straws 

 v ere introduced, forming variegated patterns, and many other ingenious 

 devices, and .these were sold to the passengers passing through that 

 ancient thoroughfare in the days of coaching. Many hats were made at 

 the same period, and, together with the fancy work, brought Dunstable 

 into notoriety in connection with the straw trade ; hence the names of 

 Dunstable plait, Dunstable hat, Dunstable bonnet. 



The efforts at splitting straws made at Dunstable in the " laid-work," 

 and around Luton, were not successful in discovering a proper instru- 

 ment. Who it was that at last succeeded in the invention of that most 

 important and useful little " machine," as it was named, the straw 

 splitter, cannot now be traced, but it is generally supposed that the 

 French prisoners at Yoxley Barracks, near Stilton, first made it in bone, 

 between the years 1803 and 1806. It was about two inches long, 

 brought to a point, behind which a set of cutters was arranged in a circle ; 

 the point entered the straw pipe, the cutters separating it into so many 

 equal-sized splints. Some were arranged to cut a straw into four parts, 

 others five, and so on up to nine. This instrument was soon imitated, 

 and being of such surprising utility, numbers were speedily made, and 

 fetched as much as from one to two guineas each. A blacksmith, at 

 Dunstable, named Janes, made them in iron, and turned the end down- 

 wards at right angles with the stem, the cutters being placed immediately 

 above the point. This soon after became the general form in which it 

 was made, with the same varieties of cutters as at first in bone. A few 

 years afterwards, about 1815, others were made like wheels, and inserted 

 in a frame, the points projecting in front of each ; by this arrangement 

 four or five splitters could be fixed in one frame. As these instruments 

 became common, and were made in brass, the price being about sixpence 

 each, the making of split plaits with facility was placed within easy 

 reach of the plaiters. To this invention may be attributed the success 

 which, in later times, has attended the manufacture of straw plait in 

 England. 



The first split plait was made of seven straws, and it fetched 

 as much as 12s. per score. Many amusing accounts have been handed 

 down of persons called " dealers," collecting it of the plaiters five 

 yards at a time, meeting them on their way to market as early as 

 three or four o'clock in the morning, and making great efforts to obtain 

 it. Prices continued high for manv years. Other kinds were also 



