THE TECHNOLOGIST. [May 1, 1864. 



458 ON THE STRAW PLAIT TRADE. 



chiefly, in the first instance, with the United States of America ; later, 

 in addition to this, large quantities of English straw goods have been 

 shipped to Canada, Australia, the West India Islands, India, Brazil, 

 and the Continent ; and while France supplies England with the 

 newest fashions in bonnets, she in return is supplied with the latest 

 fashions in hats from England. 



Before closing the subject, it is necessary to notice the novel but 

 useful invention of mixing white cotton braids, now made chiefly at 

 Manchester, with straw plait. In the first instance the white braid was 

 made up alone, as is still done for some descriptions of bonnets. The 

 introduction of this new material is referred to the Messrs. Woolley, 

 Sanders, and Co., of London and Dunstable. The bonnets made of the 

 braid are whiter by far than those of chip, and are often preferred for 

 wedding bonnets. The finest braids are named chip braids. 



From the foregoing statements the trade of Luton, and the straw 

 trade generally in England, is exhibited as assuming greater importance 

 every year. Luton is now in direct communication with the metropolis 

 by means of the Great Northern line, the Luton branch railway joining 

 the main line near to Hatfield. This important advantage is likely to 

 develop still more £ the straw trade of Bedfordshire, by placing the 

 emporium of it, Luton, within easy reach of all travellers. It is in 

 communication with the North by means of the railway to Dunstable 

 and Leighton. In addition to the straw trade of Bedfordshire, there 

 is the Brazilian hat trade of St. Albans, which employs about 1,800 

 persons in the town and neighbourhood, and in other branches of hat- 

 making, forming the staple trade of that town. 



Although in the mere popular view of the subject it may, in its 

 various details, be considered more interesting to ladies, who are the 

 principal purchasers and wearers of bonnets, yet it is not without 

 general interest to the male sex, who sometimes wear straw-hats in 

 boating, cricketing, &c, and are also interested in it as relating to 

 home and export trade. It is much to be wished that a little 

 more boldness was manifested by men, in wearing, at suitable 

 seasons, a lighter covering for the head than the silk, felt, and cloth 

 hats usually worn. Such a practice, while helping on an important 

 home manufacture, would likewise conduce to the preservation of the 

 hair and lessen the number of bald heads. The due ventilation of the 

 head and the more free exposure of the hair greatly conduces to its 

 healthy preservation among the ladies. Our ever-changing fashions and 

 variable climate have much to do with the progress and prosperity of 

 the straw plait manufacture. Looking at the strong contrasts in 

 fashions, and the recurrence from time to time to old and obsolete styles 

 of articles of dress, it is by no means improbable that the cottage 

 bonnets and milk-maid and gipsy hats worn half a century or more 

 ago, now looked on as such curiosities, may, after all, be again seen in 

 the shops and on ladies' heads. The subject of the working-up of 

 grasses and plait of various kinds into coverings for the head, ornaments, 



