382 Journal of AgricuUurc. [10 June, 1910, 



are sown in drills. Germination takes place in due course, and no other 

 culture or shelter is given to the voung plants. 



Occasionally, young trees raised in a nursery are planted. This course 

 is more used for filling up misses — sowing the acorns where they are to- 

 grow is more usual. The distance apart varies a good deal, about 25 feet 

 X 25 feet, or 70 trees per acre, is a usual number. It is rare that the 

 trees are arranged in regular order ; they are much more often planted 

 promiscuously. 



Sometimes, especially in regions where cereals are produced, the trees 

 are planted verv much furdier apart, the land becween them being ploughed 

 and crops grown on it. The trees benefit by the cultivation and grow more 

 luxuriantlv, but this is not so great an advantage as might be expected, as 

 the quality of the cork suffers. Its grain is not >o good ; slower growtb 

 on poorer soil produces better cork. 



In the great majoritv of forests, the land is not cultivated, though the 

 ground is kept clear of scrub and rubbish. In addition to promoting better 

 growth, this is necessarv to guard against bush fires which in cork forests 

 are capable of doing very considerable damage. Suckers are usually removed, 

 and a certain amount of pruning is practised, to let in air and promote the 

 formation of acorns. Of all forest trees grown in Portugal, this is the one 

 which is best looked after and which vields the most handsome returns. 



The cork forests of Portugal are nearlv all private propertv. either 

 worked bv the owners or leased for a period of 20 to 40 vears. The con- 

 ditions of these leases ^^arv a good deal ; sometimes cultivation is required, 

 more often not. The obligation to remove virgin cork from young trees and 

 to cut out dead wood, &c., from old ones, is often provided for, and in- 

 nearly all, the need for careful stripping .so as not to injure the liber or 

 cork-producing layer is insisted on. 



Stripping. 



The first operation, termed in French Dcmasclagc , consists in the 

 removal of Avhat is known as virgin cork {Cortka virgem in Portuguese). 

 This is necessary in order to allow for the rapidly increasing calibre of the 

 trunk and larger branches. The age at which it is performed varies a good 

 deal. If growth has l)een exceptionallv good, it may be executed as early 

 as ten years after planting, but this is rare; it more usually takes place- 

 between the fifteenth and twentieth \ear. Sometimes, a small crop of bark 

 for tanning purposes is removed when the trees are alx)ut four years old. 



The first real stripping is known in Portugal as Secundaria. It takes 

 place some eight or ten years later than the removal of the virgin cork. 

 After this, the tree mav be looked upon as thoroughly established ; it con- 

 tinues, almost indefinitelv, to vield its regular crop of cork at intervals of 

 nine or ten years. No fixed period can be laid down ; the interval depends 

 on the rapidity of growth and the thickness of cork required — sometimes it 

 is eight years, at others twelve years. Once in production, the trees are 

 worked on a methodical svstem, one-ninth or one-tenth of the plantation 

 being stripped each vear ; a regular and uniform annual production is thus 

 assured. 



The stripping season is from ist June to 30th August (ist December and 

 28th February in Australia) ; sometimes, but rarely, it commences as earljr 

 as 15th May (15th November). The best strippers come from the Algarve 

 district, in the extreme south. Skill and great care are required in order 



