DESCRIPTVIE CATALOGUE 317 



each other if sown near and thickly together. We find two qualities of seed; the 

 Marzuplo, which is furnished from Modena, also from the mountains of Tuscany, and 

 especially from Monte-Ainiata, it being from the latter place that the seed most 

 adapted to a fine quality of straw is procured, and the Semenzuolo, a very small grain, 

 which is used for hats and grows to perfection only in the district of Pisa. The 

 Marzuolo (meaning sown in March) wheat straw is not a plant which differs much 

 from the other varieties of grains having small seeds, and if cultivated under condi- 

 tions favorable to the development of the seed would make good bread grain. With 

 us, however, the aim is to lessen the production of seed and cause the stem to acquire 

 length, fineness, and consistency, thus rendering it valuable. It is the effort to 

 make each seed produce one stem, which shall be flexible and as long as possible. 

 Very little care is required for the grain, especially if sown very thick. The harvest 

 is never delayed until the grain is perfectly matured, but the stems are drawn out 

 about the last of May or the first of June. 



This uprooting process is generally given out by contract to the operators. The 

 straw is then tied in bundles and left to dry under shelter. If the weather is dry, 

 the straw may be spread for three or four days on the ground, on an open threshing 

 floor or the dry bed of a stream, so that the sun and dew w T ill alternate and effect a 

 bleaching. After this the separating and arranging of the straw takes place. The 

 operator holding the stem in one hand, takes hold of the husk which contains the 

 barley seed with the other and draws off the top straw which is attached to it and 

 which serves for making fine hats. These are selected and tied in bundles again, 

 weighing 100 grams each, which are afterwards combined into packages of 6 to 8 

 kilos. The straw remaining after this operation is useless for the industries, but is 

 used for animals. 



The production of straw for hats reaches 7,000 or 8,000 kilos per hectare, weighed 

 when just taken from the earth, but when fully dried, bleached, and separated the 

 real straw for plaiting weighs about 1,000 kilos. It usually sells for 5 or 6 lire per 

 100 bundles. For 30,000 to 35,000 bundles 1,500 to 2,000 lire should be received. Other- 

 wise selling by weight, it brings 1.50 lire to 2 lire per kilo, equivalent to 1,500 or 2,000 

 lire. [A lire is about 25 cents.] After Tuscany the Province of Vicenza ranks high 

 in this product. Switzerland at present exports the greater number of straw hats. 

 England produces an immense quantity of these hats. From 60,000 to 70,000 per- 

 sons are engaged in this manufacture. 



The Chinese wheat straw plait industry is located in the provinces of Chihli, 

 Shansi, Honan, and Shantung, and gives employment to many of the poorer classes 

 of women and children, who are able to produce from 35 to 40 yards of braid per 

 day, worth 14 to 20 cents. The principal varieties are known as white and black 

 Shingkee, Shansi, Shantung mottled, and Honan mottled. The first shipment of 35 

 bales of braid to the United States was in 1873. In 1886, 6,000 bales were shipped, 

 a bale representing 240 bundles of 165 feet each. 



The cultivation of wheat straw from which the braid is worked, and the manufac- 

 ture of straw hats for water use, has been a special industry in the northern pro- 

 vinces of China for more than a century. It was not until after Tientsin was opened 

 to foreign trade that the farmer began to pay much attention to the cultivation and 

 curing of the straw so as to secure greater uniformity of color as well as fineness of 

 quality. The great desideratum is to obtain as perfect a white straw as possible by 

 means of bleaching in the sun. The process is to pull up the plants by hand when 

 the grain is in the milk and only about half developed. Great care must be taken 

 to prevent exposure to rain. After bleaching, the straw is cut at the first joint from 

 the top, all below that joint being useless for making braid. ( U. S. Consul E. J. 

 SmWhers.) 



Tritoma spp. Torch Lily. 



Endogens. Idliacece. Aloe-like leaf cluster. 

 The torch lilies are natives of the Cape of Good Hope, but distributed to other 



