STRAW-PLAITING—A LOST ESSEX INDUSTRY. 189
The straw, being thrust over the cone, is pressed against the
sharp-cutting edge of the cogs and so split into as many splints
as there are cogs.
The resultant splints would, of course, retain their form as
segments of a circle, therefore, to flatten them, they were wetted
and passed between the rollers of the "mill," (Fig. 4) or, if the
plaiter did not possess a mill, under a hand-roll, such as
shown. (Fig. 5.)
The "mill" has two beech-wood rollers, the amount of
pressure between them being regulated by a turn of the screw
FIG. 4.—WOODEN MILL FOR FLATTENING THE STRAW "SPLINTS."
above, acting upon loose chucks which press upon the axle of
the upper roller.
Having passed through the mill, or under the hand-roll, and
been damped, the splints are taken by the plaiter (generally held
in her mouth till she wants them) and then deftly and rapidly she
plaits them, first graduating the lengths so that the projecting
ends allow fresh splints, one by one, to be added to the plait till
she judges that she has made twenty yards of plait. On this point
she satisfies herself by the rough and ready method of placing the
plait against her nose with one hand and with the other stretch-
ing the plait the full length of her arm; repeating this twenty
times, she considers she has made twenty yards of plait.