STRAW AND STRAW MANUFACTURES. Straw is the generic name applied to the dried stems or stalks of cer tain cereals such as wheat, barley, oats and rye.
The first use of straw was probably as bedding or floor cover ings for mankind or as fodder and litter for cattle. The value of straw for cattle was early recognized, for in making conditions of land tenure, it was, and still is, customary to prohibit the re moval of the straw residue which, as litter, became the only fer tilizing agent. Thatching for primitive shelters and body cover ings for man were some of the succeeding utilitarian develop ments. Straw is now the raw material of many important indus tries, viz.—mat-making; the stuffing of bedding; the weaving of hats, plaits and baskets; twisting into ropelike bands for tying up sheaves and trusses of corn and hay and for rolling into "skeps" or beehives ; for various methods of ornamentation ; for the mak ing of pulp for paper and the species of card board known as strawboard and the making of "envelopes" for the protection during transit of glass and earthenware. The two most important of these industries are the making of paper and strawboard and the weaving of plaits and hoods for hat making. For paper and strawboards any kind of straw can be used, the stalks are sub jected to a chemical maceration and filtration, until the resultant pulp can be brought through the various necessary rolling mills.
In the plait and hood industry throughout the world, cereals are specially grown and carefully selected for good colour, length, lightness in weight and toughness. Certain soils are necessary for the growth of straw fulfilling these requirements. These are found in Beds., Bucks. and Herts., in England; Tuscany in Italy; on the eastern seaboard of China and in nearly all parts of Japan. These various centres employ different means of cultivation and of treatment of the stalks after growth. In England the wheat crop destined for plait is carefully mown by hand with a sickle or scythe, the stalks when thoroughly ripened are tied up, just below the ears, into small sheaves, the loose leaves at the knots are re moved by means of a special comb, leaving only the pipes of the straw which are finally cut up into suitable lengths between the knots. In Tuscany, before the grain is fully ripened, the stalks are pulled up by the roots and spread out to be dried and bleached in the sun. The upper part of the stalk down to the first knot, being exposed to the elements during growth, develops a colour known as "Tuscan" and is termed punta or point. This part of the straw is used for making the well-known "Leghorn" hats, as well as for plaits of many designs under the generic name of "Tuscan." The lower portion of the stalk, when denuded of its sheath, is of a pearly white colour and is called the pedale or foot. This is lighter in weight than the punta and is utilized for hats and plaits of high quality under the name of "Pedal." China and Japan follow these methods as the nature of the straw or the soil may require.
in various "wattle" and "criss cross" patterns of plain or fanci ful nature. All methods commence at the centre of the top of the crown and the starting spiral or knot is termed the "button." In addition to the "Panamas" and "Brazilians," there are the Yedda, Hemp, Raffia, Bowen, Buntal Rush, Java, Bankok and Manila Hoods which, although in the plait and hat trade are called straws are of other vegetable fibres. They are all of exotic growths; the well known "Panama" derives its name from the locality from which it was first exported 30o years ago ; the area of its produc tion has since greatly extended, Ecuador and Colombia being now important centres of manufacture. The names of Bankoks, Bra zilians, Javas and Manilas announce their source ; yeddas and bowens come principally from Sumatra ; rush hats are made in vast quantities in China; raffias emanate from the islands of the Caribbean Sea; Hemps of all kinds of patterns in plaits and hoods come from Switzerland, Italy, China and Japan. Hats such as "Panamas" and "Brazilians" have also been made at European centres, viz., St. Albans (England), Dresden (Ger many), and Nancy (France), from fibres of exotic origin.
The making of plaits or braids for sewing to shape is of much more recent origin than the weaving of hats or hoods and this development was introduced into Scotland by Mary Queen of Scots in 1552. After the accession of her son, James I., to the English throne, the industry migrated towards the south and settled in the district between Dunstable (Bedfordshire) and Hemel Hempstead (Herts.) in the early days of the 17th century. From that date hats and bonnets were all made or sewn by hand until 187o, when the first hat was machine sewn in Luton (Bed fordshire). Many machines have been invented for the sewing of plait, of which only three varieties are now extensively in use. The 187o type machine, greatly improved, has a visible stitch similar to that of an ordinary domestic sewing machine: another type, subsequently invented, has a specially designed mechanism by means of which the concealed stitch of handsewing is closely imitated ; these produce the overlapping row result, but in the third and latest machine a zig-zag stitch provides for the sewing of plaits edge to edge.
The sulphur and acid processes, for some centuries the only methods of bleaching straws, have been replaced by a process known as "Monopol," by which all tones of white, from paper to ivory, can be obtained. In likemanner, the old time logwood fustic, sumae, copperas and other similar dyestuffs have been super seded by aniline and alizarine processes. Hats and hoods are stiffened with gelatine size, and after drying are blocked into the required shape with the acid of damp heat and pressure, either by hand, or by hydraulic or vacuum machines. (H. I.)