steam and soften the stiffened material, and also make the hat conform to the shape of the block. At the time of the gelatine introduction, shapes were all of variations of the “Poke,” “Coalscuttle,” or “Granny” bonnet styles, and the smoothing or ironing of them was done on a “block,”[1] something the shape of a vaulting horse, and nearly as large, for it had legs long enough to make it sufficiently high to work at without stooping. The ends were made to take the crown, or rather the portion which hung at the back of the head or nape of the neck of the wearer, into which was set the voluminous “poke” or side brims of the “petasus” or coalscuttle type that completely obliterated the side views of the wearer’s face. The poke could be blocked on any part of the “horse” except the ends, and its curves and outlines varied as occasion might require. On the introduction of irons and the use of a damp cloth, known in the trade as a “strainer,” the wooden horse was the only apparatus for blocking until the advent of other shapes necessitated further and more complicated outlines. When the “iron” in present use first made its appearance in the trade it has been impossible to find out. It is what is now universally known as a “box iron,” consisting of a wedge shaped shell of metal with flat top and bottom, but with curved sides, into which a red hot “pad,” or block of iron to fit the interior, could be put to impart to the “box” the necessary heat. That this style of iron was known long before the beginning of the nineteenth century is certain. Quaint forms for ironing the Elizabethan ruffs embodying the hot pad principle are still in existence, but the early nineteenth century accounts of the instruments used in the straw trade are something like the History of England between A.D. 500 and A.D. 800, extremely hazy! Therefore, it is impossible to fix the exact date of its introduction to the trade; one may conjecture that, like “Topsy” in _Uncle Tom’s Cabin_, “it growed.” Its trade birth was probably accidental, but its existence has been phenomenal in duration, for although machinery for blocking is now doing a lot of work formerly done by hand, still in most factories hand ironing occupies a very prominent place, and even where hats are blocked by machine in many cases they need roughly shaping first by hand. Hand blocking is done in the following manner: the hat to be ironed is first put through some process to make the hardness of the gelatine sufficiently soft to fit the blocks. In the early days of the trade this was always done by lightly passing the hot iron over a damp cloth in which the hat was enveloped, thus producing enough steam to render the hat pliable, the crown was then carefully adjusted on the block, special attention being given to the spacing and direction of the rows of plait.