two, wetted and laid together, and in the varieties known as “Splits” the splints are plaitted singly, leaving alternately, or in a spaced pattern, according to the design required, the inside and the outside of the straw; the outside of silicate being shiny, and the inside with its slight pith (or _rice_ as it is termed) being dull. The “Whole Straw Dunstable,” the first plait made in the neighbourhood, was of seven entire straws, “Patent Dunstable” or “Twist” was of seven doubled strands, or _ends_, formed of fourteen splints. _Rice_ similarly made, but with the splints inside out, making a plait of a dull white which was extensively used for bonnets for weddings. “Split” was formed of seven single split straws, presenting the varied appearance mentioned above, and was naturally the lightest of British fine plaits. “Luton” was made like “Patent Dunstable,” but without the “Twist” head, making a flat plait similar to split but with both sides alike. “Bedford,” made of eleven single or eleven double ends of twenty-two splints, similar to and in imitation of the Italian plait “11-end Tuscan,” and “Rustic,” a plait of four whole or split straws plaitted to show pointed serrations on both edges. These plaits form the base from which all other straw plaits have developed; their composition and methods are to be found in every variety whether made in Great Britain or abroad, and although other hand-made plaits have larger or smaller numbers of “ends” (from three to almost any number upwards) their basis of treatment remains the same. The two primary homes of plaitting straws into braids, Italy and Great Britain, had many features in common in the conditions and methods by which the plait was made. In both countries the whole of the industry was carried on by peasants and their wives. The males, who were generally agricultural labourers or small traders in rural districts, for the main part saw to the growing of the straws and their preparation and distribution for plaitting, followed after the braids were made by the marketing of the work done by their female friends or relations. In some districts, such as the environs of Florence and of the South Beds and neighbouring counties, these occupations were of such magnitude as to give constant employment to many.