1885.] MISCELLANEOUS. 529 



TiiE Planting of Tkees in Towns. — Baron Huddleston and Mr. 

 Cave had before tlieni in Loudon, on Tuesday, 24th November, the 

 case of The Queen v. Tlie Corporation of Lewes. Mr. Lumley 

 Smith, Q.C., applied for a rule calling upon the defendants to show 

 cause why a fine should not be imposed upon them, and why they 

 should not remove certain trees which they had planted in one of 

 the principal streets of Lewes. An indictment against the Corpora- 

 tion was tried at Lewes, and the jury found that the trees were a 

 nuisance. The Corporation had removed two dead trees ; but they 

 had planted one in place of a dead one, and they persisted in keep- 

 ing seven or eight other trees. It was under these circumstances 

 that he made the present application, in order to have the nuisance 

 abated. Eule granted. 



Cork. — It is generally believed that this useful production is the 

 true bark of the cork oak (Que7xus suhcr), but this is an error. The 

 true bark of the tree underlies the spongy substance commonly 

 known as cork, which is an excrescence merely that can be removed 

 from the tree without injury, but rather benefit, for growth is improved 

 by its being removed. The tree is in fact cultivated and fostered 

 for and by the removal of this external envelope of the bark. It 

 is generally twenty or twenty-five years before a tree yields a 

 gathering of cork. The first gathering is called virgin cork, and is 

 familiar enough as material for the formation of rustic work, but is 

 no use for cork-making. The next gathering, which is taken after 

 a lapse of about ten years from the period of the first gathering, is 

 of superior quality, and each successive gathering improves in quality, 

 but it is not till the third gathering that really superior cork is obtained. 



A Peofitable Investment. — The cultivation of the cocoa-nut 

 palm is said to be the most remunerative branch of American 

 farming. The trees do not produce much fruit until they are ten 

 years old ; but afterwards they continue prolific for nearly a century, 

 and the yearly yield of each is worth, on the average, 15s. in New 

 York. In the extreme south of Plorida an enterprising native of 

 New Jersey has planted 200,000 palms. Land, labour, and trees 

 have cost him only £20,000 ; and he expects, in two or three years' 

 time, to be earning a clear £120,000 annually, or 650 per cent, 

 interest on his invested capital. The prospect is a seductive one ; 

 but lest British fathers with younger sons should dream of sending 

 their hopefuls to grow cocoa-palms in Florida, we may as well add 

 that in the nothern hemispliere the valuable nut can only be culti- 

 vated near the sea, and south of lat. 27, and that the New Jersey 

 speculator, with commendable prudence, has bought up the only 

 tract of land in the United States that is exactly suitable for the 

 purpose. 



