About seventy years ago, Mr. Welch, of the firm of Welch & Sons, of Luton (one of the oldest established houses in the trade and still in existence), patented a bleach which was called the “Luton Bleach.” This consisted of carefully washing the plait with soap and water in wooden vats; after careful rinsing it was immersed in a bath of weak oxalic acid and water (some bleachers subsequently added other chemicals), and then while wet subjected to the fumes of sulphur in a hermetically closed wooden chest. Hanging out in the sunshine to dry, and another sulphur fumigation before “bunching” (as the tying up of plait into bundles is termed), completed the operation. With chip plaits, and fifty or more years ago these were very fashionable, a similar process was usual, but the bleaching bath contained, as well as oxalic acid, kali, tartar, and a good many other similar ingredients, according to the requirements of the user. In those days nearly all bleaching was done by the actual manufacturer of the hats, it was only when the trade began to move by leaps and bounds that works entirely for bleaching purposes were established. For many years these methods of bleaching were the only ones employed on plaits for hats, and they produced excellent results on really good coloured straws; but failed entirely to eliminate any faulty parts, and further, in order to get the finest colour, two more sulphur fumigations were necessary; one when the hat was wet from the gelatine employed to stiffen it, and the other a dry “steam” (as the fumigation was called) before putting the finished hats into the cases for dispatch.