1914 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 
commerce, appears to have been applied to useful purposes, even in the time 
of the Romans; since Pliny mentions a kind of buckler lined with cork, 
and that the Roman women lined their shoes with it; the latter being a 
practice which is common all over the civilised world at the present day. 
Both Greeks and Romans appear to have used it occasionally for stoppers to 
vessels, “ cadorum obturamentis ” (Plin. Hist. Nat., lib. xvi. cap. 8.) ; but it was 
not extensively employed for this purpose till the 17th century, when glass 
bottles, of which no mention is made before the 15th century, began to be 
generally introduced. (See Beckmann’s Hist. of Invent., vol. ii. p. 114—127., 
Eng. ed.) In modern times, besides the employment of cork for stoppers 
to bottles, and bungs to vessels of various kinds, and for lining the soles of 
shoes, and sometimes other articles, it is used by fishermen for supporting 
their nets, and by anglers for trolling and other kinds of fishing. It is em+ 
ployed in the construction of life-boats, and also for what are called life- 
jackets, to enable those to float who cannot swim. In Evelyn’s time, cork 
was much used by old persons for linings to the soles of their shoes; whence 
the German name for it, pantoffelholtz, or slipper-wood. The Venetian 
dames, Evelyn says; used it for their choppinges, or high-heeled shoes ; and 
“the poor people in Spain lay planks of it by their bedside to tread on, as 
great persons use Turkey and Persian carpets, to defend them from the floor. 
Sometimes, also, they line the inside of their houses built of stone with this 
bark, which renders them very warm, and corrects the moisture of the air.” 
This last use may afford a valuable hint to the constructors of covered seats, 
water-closets in the open air, summer-houses, or fishing-houses. In Spain, and 
also in Barbary according to Desfontaines, and in the Canary Isles according 
to Webb and Berthelot, it is used for making bee-hives. For this purpose, 
the bark of young trees is chosen, rolled into a cylinder, and made fast by 
sewing, or by hoops. There are various other uses to which the bark of the 
cork tree is applied in its organic state; and it is burned in close vessels, to 
make the powder which is sold in the colour-shops under the name of 
Spanish black, At the celebrated Cork Convent at Cintra, several articles of 
furniture are made of this tree, which strangers who visit the convent are 
requested to lift, in order that surprise may be excited at their extraordinary 
lightness. The most valuable property of the cork, and that which is almost 
peculiar to it, is its imperviousness to any common liquid; while, at the same 
time, it is light and porous, and, consequently, one of the best non-conductors 
of heat. Add to these properties its compressibility and elasticity, and we 
have a substance which can scarcely be equalled either in nature or by art. 
Its non-conducting properties, flexibility, and elasticity render it suitable for 
lining articles of dress, or the walls or floors of rooms; its lightness, and its 
imperviousness to fluids, fit it in a superior manner for life-preservers, either 
in the form of boats, or articles to be attached to the body; and its compressi- 
bility, joined to its elasticity, taken in connexion with its imperviousness to 
liquids and its great durability, render it the best of all known substances 
for forming stoppers to bottles. For this latter purpose, as Bosc observes, it 
forms an article of commerce throughout the civilised world. There is 
nothing peculiar in the culture of the cork tree, except that young trees 
should be pruned, so as to have a clear stem of 10 ft. or 12 ft. in height, on 
which the cork is to be afterwards produced. 
Mode of detaching and preparing the Cork. It is observed by authors, that 
the bark of the cork tree which separates from it naturally is of little value 
compared with that which is removed by art; and the reason, doubtless, is, that 
in the latter case it has not arrived at that rigid, contracted, and fractured 
state, which is the natural consequence of its dropping from the tree. When 
the cork tree has attained the age of about 15 years, according to Du Hamel, 
or of about 20, according to Bosc, the bark is removed for the first time; 
but this first bark is found to be cracked, and full of cells and woody 
ortions, and is therefore only fit for burning, or being employed in tanning. 
he bark is separated by first making a circular cut round the trunk, imme- 
