Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 November 1884 — Cork Gathering. [ARTICLE]

Cork Gathering.

The cork tree belongs to the class ol oaks; and there are two trees, Quercus suber and Quercus pccidentalis, that from time to time shed their bark or outer coating. This coating is the cork of the trade; but the bark shed by nature is not marketable, because it does not contain any sap, which is necessary to retain the elasticity. Cork for industrial purposes is gained by peeling. After a tree is three years old, the peeling may commence; but cork of that age is of inferior quality, and the peeling would kill the tree. Trees of twenty years give cork of a fair quality, increasing until the tree has gained the respectable age of 100 or 150 years, when the bark becomes hard and unwieldy. The circular incisions are made around the trunk of the tree and connected by perpendicular cuts, allowing the two half circles to be re- v moved. Care must be taken not to disturb the fibre, or inner bark, which keeps the thee alive. The peeling process can be repeated on the same tree at intervals of from eight to ten years, yielding cork plates from one to four inches in thickness. The half-round cork pieces are pressed into plates while still moist from the tree. Then the rough coatings are removed, and plates are immersed in boiling water for several minutes and pressed again. After that, they are piled into bundles, fastened by iron hoops, and are ready for the market. The raw material will sell from four to seventy cents per pound, according to the quality and thickness, and is not subject to any import duty, .-a The fullgrown cork tree reaches a height of seventy feet and a diameter of five feet. It growa in the almost impenetrable forests of Spain, the southeastern part of France and Algiers, and Senegambia in Africa. The quality of the cork depends very much upon the lay of the land, that exposed to the greatest heat being the finest. Each tree yields cork of two dimensions, the bark on the northern side of the tree being the thinnest. Experiments have been made to cultivate the oak in Florida and California; but, so fir; they have not resulted in success. There is a good prospect, however, that cork of a marketable quality may be obtained in the former State as the oak plantations advance in ag e.—Anon. “Why are they called almighty dollars, papa?” he asked of his father. And the old man replied promptly: “Because thev are almighty hard to