558 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 
ers endeavor to produce this quality sometimes by putting off the time 
of gathering for one or two years. 
The time necessary for the production of good cork varies according 
‘to the conditions of the soil and climate, and experience is the best 
guide in determining when it should be gathered. When mature and 
fit for removal, the body of the cork is of a rose-white, which color 
rapidly disappears upon exposure to the air. 
Yo remove the cork from the tree, an ax, the helve of which is - 
wedge-shaped at the end, is used. Two circular cuts are made, one at 
the foot of the trunk and one at the proper height above. <A longitu- 
dinal cut is then made, and after its edges are gently beaten with the ax, 
the end of the helve is introduced and the whole piece is easily taken 
off. Sometimes several circular incisions are made, and the cork is 
taken off in sections. After the cork is removed, two longitudinal in- 
cisions, which penetrate to the inner bark,.are made in the trunk along 
its whole length. This is done to prevent the new formation of cork 
from cracking on its outer surface. Some persons make as many as four 
of these incisions in the trunks of the trees. They should not, how- 
ever, be made on the north side. The inner part of the cork consists ot 
a yellow substance which is useless in the manufacture of stoppers. It 
is composed of dried sap, or at least of a corky substance in process ot 
formation, and is distributed equally over the surface of the trunk. 
This substance dries quickly, and serves as a protection to the mother, 
or inner, bark. This corky substance is precisely that which is taken 
off and lost when the cork is removed later in the season, when the sap 
‘is descending. 
If all the cork is taken from the tree at once, the new cork is produced 
more slowly ; but it is of a better quality than when the tree is only par- 
tially stripped. As it has been considered dangerous toa certain extent 
to deprive the trees of their whole covering at once, it has been proposed 
that the operation should be performed at different times; the first year 
taking off the cork up to a height of about 12 inches, the fourth or fifth 
year up to the branches, and the seventh or eighth year from the branches 
themselves. By this method the trees thay not suffer so much from at- 
mospheric influences. On the other hand, however, it has the inconven- 
ience of always leaving a portion of the delicate surface of the trunk ex- 
posed to the vicissitudes of the weather. In the plantation of Monte 
Mayor, in the province of Castellon de la Plana, it is, or at least was, the 
custom to take the cork from half the trunk the first year; two years 
later itis taken off as far up as the branches; and two years after from 
the branches themselves. 
It is not expedient to remove the first cork all at once, but at intervals 
of two or three years. In this way the trunk acquires a greater diame- 
ter, and the tree is not so liable to be injured by the cold. 
The trunk should be stripped to the ground, because if a belt of cork 
should be left it would serve as a cover for ants, which would fill it with 
holes, or for other insects, which would cause the same, or greater damage. 
If the trunk is stripped every eight or nine years the thick branches 
should be stripped every ten or twelve years, and the lesser ones every 
sixteen or twenty. 
Great care should be taken not to wound or strip off any part of the 
mother or inner bark, because ne eork is produced upon the place so in- 
jured until it is completely healed over. According to some authorities, 
the wound once closed, cork ef a better quality than before is produced. 
If the injury is repeated it heais with great difficulty, and the tree is 
often seriously damaged. 
