STRAW-MANUFACTURES. The industrial applications of the straw of wheat are of _great commercial importance, especially that of plaiting, which is one of the oldest arts practiced by mankind, many specimens having been found in the tombs of the ancient Egyptians, and mention being made of plaiting by Herodotus and other early writers. The earliest notice we have of its systematic use in Europe as. an article of clothing is in the records of the reign of Mary, queen of Scots, who, we are told, observed that the peasants of Lorraine wore hats •made of straw plait, and that this manufacture was beneficial to them, and she consequently conceived the idea of introducing it into Scot land, which was done about the year 1562, but without much success. Her son, James I., however, carried it into England, where it soon throve, and has been from that time a permanent branch of industry. It was first regularly established in Bedfordshire, which has ever since been the chief seat of the trade.
At first, the plait was what is called 7o7tb/e straw; that is, the straw was cut into snit Able lengths withmit knots, and merely pressed fiat during the operation of plaitifig, and so it coutinned until the rein of George I. when it was in great demand for ladies' hats. and some plait was made of split straw. Since that time, this kind has been chiefly used, and a much improved method has been substituted for the clumsy one of using a .common knife for splitting it. The instrument now employed is made of steel, and con sists of a number of little square blades set in a circular manner around a stem, which at one end terminates in a point, and at the other is bent and fixed into a handle. The point being inserted into the hollow of the straw, is pressed forward, and cuts it into as many strips as there are blades in the cutting-tool; these vary in number according to the fineness of the work to be produced.
It is found that the flue straw-plaiting, which is BOW produced better in England than iu any other country except Italy, can only be made from one or two varieties of wheat, that called the White Chittim being generally preferred, and next to it the Red Lammas, which only succeed as a straw-crop upon the light rich soils of the more southern of the midland counties. The harvesting is a matter of great anxiety, as the
straw is liable to many injuries from wet and other causes. The value of this crop can be best understood by the fact that an acre will yield from 25 to 40 busts, of wheat, and from 15 ewts. to a ton of straw, which, when in good condition, is worth £7 or V.
The crop is bought up by straw-factors, who employ people to draw the straw, and remove the ears, which are all eat off by hand for threshing. The straws are after ward cut into lengths and cleared of the outer sheath or leaf; they are then sorted into various thicknesses by an apparatus consisting of a series of sieves about eight Inches in •diameter; the boys who usually do this work hold a handful on end over the first sieve, which has the narrowest spaces, and the thinest straws only fall through it; they are next placed on the second. and so on to the last. As they fall through each successive sieve.thcy pass down through hollow shafts, through shoots of tin or sheet-zinc into boxes, from which they are removed and tied into bundles ready for the splitters, who next take them in hand and reduce them to strips of the sizes required.
The plaits are made by women and children in their own cottages, and are collected by the dealers and sold in the Luton and Dunstable markets, in which the chief part of this business is transacted. They are very various in pattern, and are sold by the score -of 20 yards, the prices ranging from 2d. to 3s. per score for the ordinary kinds, but very fine plaits have been known to fetch as high as £3 to £4 per score.
It is co:nputed that 70,000 persons are employed in this trade, of whom nearly 60,000 are females and boys, and that they produce annually about 13,000,000 scores, or 240,000,000 yards of plait. The plait is made up into bonnets and hats chiefly at Luton and Dunstable, and sent up to the London warehouses for sale, whence they are sent to all parts of the world. A large trade is also done in the fine plaits of Tuscany; the Leghorn plaits are very fine, and fetch high prices.
Besides its value for plaiting, straw is now much used in the manufacture of paper (q.v.).