THE FARMER AT OME. 



101 



The best bark comes from Spain and Portugal ; it is taken off in. 

 sheets, care being used in keeping them as large as possible. After it 

 is detached from the tree, the Portuguese burn or char it, laying the 

 convex side of the bark to the fire in order to straighten and swell it. 

 It is then piled in stacks ready for sale. 



Cork is formed into soles for shoes, into corks, bungs for stop- 

 ping bottles, and into a floatage for the nets of fishermen ; it is em- 

 ployed generally, though perhaps with a considerable degree of error, 

 in teaching the art of swimming ; and it is also ingeniously used, on 

 account of its lightness, when an amputation of the human leg has 

 been necessary, to supply the deficiency. Spaniards line stone walls 

 with it, which not only renders their houses very warm, but corrects 

 the moisture of the air; and the Egyptians made cofBns of it, which 

 being covered in the inside with a resinous composition, preserved their 

 dead bodies. It is burnt to make that light black substance, called 

 Spanish black, from its having been first made in Spain. 



CORN. It has not been determined of what country Indian corn, 

 or maize, is a native. It is usually attributed to America, where it 

 was cultivated by the aborigines, at the time of the discovery ; bi.t no 



CORN SHELLER. 



botanist has hitherto found it growing wild in any part of this conti- 

 nent ; and most certainly it does not so exist in any portion of the 

 United States. It is also certain that its culture did not attract notice 

 in Europe, Asia, or the north of Africa, till after the voyage of Colum- 

 bus. It was unknown to the ancient Greek and Roman writers, and 



