LEGHORN HATS. It is chiefly in the neighborhood of Florence, Pisa, the district of Sienna, and in the upper part of the valley of the Arno, that the best platting is made for straw hats. The straw used in working these hats is grown in districts mountainous and sterile. It is produced from a kind of wheat, of which the grain is very small. This straw, though slender, has much consistence, and the upper part of the stalk being per fectly hollow, is easily dried. It is pulled out of the earth before the grain begins to form. Atter being freed from the soil, which adheres to tie root, it is form ed into small sheaves, to be winnowed ; the part above the last joint of the stem is then plucked off, which is from four to six inches long, the ear remaining attach ed to it. This being done, it is bleached by the dew and the sunshine. Rain is very injurious to it, and destroys much of its whiteness. The lower parts of the straw are treated in the same manner, and employed in forming hats of an interior quality. The upper parts, torn off just to the knot, are sorted according to their degree of fineness. This stapling is made with much care, and usually affords straw of three different prices. A quantity of
straw, worth 8 cents, after having under gone this process, is sold for $1.25. The tress is formed of seven or nine straws, which are begun at the lower end, and are consumed, in platting, to within an inch and a half of the upper extremity, includ ing the ear. All the ends of the straws that have been consumed are left out, so that the ears are on the other side of the tress. As fast as it is worked, it is rolled on a cy linder of wood. When it is finished, the projecting ends and ears are cut off; it is then passed with force between the hand and a piece of wood, cut with a sharp edge, to press and polish it. The tresses thus prepared are so used that a complete hat shall be formed of one piece. They are sewed together with raw silk. The diameter of the hat is in general the same ; the only difference consists in the degree of fineness, and, consequently, the num ber of turns which the tress has made in completing the hat • some having from twenty to eighty such turns.