THE STRAW HAT.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 369, 14 June 1911, Page 2

THE STRAW HAT.

Now-a-days almost everybody wears a straw hat of some kind in the summer. Great care has to be taken in order to procure suitable material. The American Consul at Florence describes, in a report, the ingenious method of the Italian makers in growing and preparing the. straw destined to go into hats. "The wheat," says the Consul, "is sown as thickly as possible, in order that the growth of the plant may be impoverished, as well as to produce a thin stalk, having towards the end, from the last knot, the lightest and longest straw, The wheat blooms at the beginning of June, and is pulled out by hand by the roots when the grain is half developed. If allowed to remain in the ground a longer time the straw would become brittle. About five dozen uprooted branches, the: size of the compass of two hands, are firmly tied together into little sheaves, and stowed away in barns for a time. Then the straw is again spread out to catch the heavy slimmer dews and to bleach in the sun. After additional bleaching, the straw is cut in small bundles and classified. Finally it is cut close above the first joint from the top, and again tied up in small bundles, containing about sixty stalks each, and delivered to women in almost every private dwelling of the lower classes.