THE TECHNOLOGIST. 



[May 1, 1864. 



460 



ON THE STRAW PLAIT TRADE. 



The diminution observable in the returns for the year 1854 was not 

 real. The crop of straw was most abundant in that year, and the 

 quantity of straw work manufactured very considerable, but a great 

 part was exported in the following year. The value of straw work 

 exported, classed under different heads, gave the following results : — 





Hats. 



Plait. 



Straw. 



1851 .... 



1852. 



1853. 



1854. 

 1855. 



Liri. 



5,204,093 

 7,875,475 



10,811,865 

 6,956,620 



15,834,507 



Liri. 



3,804,600 

 4,064,604 

 5,183,352 



5,278,824 

 7,158,060 



Liri. 



138,471 



335,331 



199,898 



95,012 



30,553 



Total . 



46,682,560 



25,489,440 



799,265 



It is clearly proved by this table, that the greater part of the straw 

 is manufactured into plait in Tuscany, and the popular belief that the 

 liberty to export straw would ruin the native industry is shown to be 

 unfounded. The value of straw-work exported during the above period 

 constituted 28J per cent, of the whole exportation of Tuscany. 



In Italy the trade represented by bonnet-making and other articles 

 from straw, whether for home use or export, is a source of wealth of a 

 fluctuating character, depending upon fashion. 



The wheat used for straw plait in Italy is a summer variety of the 

 Triticum liybernum, cultivated expressly in Tuscany in poor, arid, and 

 strong soils, in order that the stalks may be as thin as possible, and they 

 seldom exceed 18 inches in height. They are gathered by rooting out 

 the plant altogether. These are dried and blanched by gentle water- 

 ing, much the same as flax ; the upper portion is then cut off, and 

 arranged in different sizes, and bleached with sulphur, &c. It is im- 

 portant to keep the ends of the straw air-tight, in order to retain the 

 pith, and prevent its gummy particles from passing off by evaporation. 



In the barn, or other appropriate place, the part for making hats, 

 &c, is selected, which is the straw between the ear and first joint, no 

 other part being serviceable for the purpose. 



On selecting the part on wdiich the spike grows, it is classed or 

 stapled like wool, the .coarse and fine straw separately. The coarse of 

 thick is given out to children, or inferior hands, while the fine or best 

 straw is worked by good hands only. 



One peculiarity in this manufacture of the so-called Leghorn hat is, 

 that the straws are not split, as is the case with the kind known as the 

 Dunstable, manufactured in England. The plait is always worked with 

 thirteen straws, which, by the peculiar manner of plaiting, are not sewn 

 together at the edges, nor overlapped. The straws are worked when 



