106 POPLAR. CORK. 



is so soft that he can easily make his nest in it ; 

 and great numbers of insects are to be found in 

 the decayed wood. 



The poplar is the fittest of all trees for raising 

 a shade quickly ; it sometimes grows fourteen feet 

 in a single season. The bark of the black Poplar, 

 Pop'ulus ni'gra, is so light, that it is sometimes 

 employed by fishermen, instead of cork, to support 

 their nets in the water. 



EDWARD. 



But what is real Cork ? 



MOTHER. 



It is the outer bark of a species of Oak, Quer'cus 

 su'ber, a genus placed by Withering in the class 

 Octandria *, which grows in the south of Europe 

 and the north of Africa. 



The Cork-tree does not begin to be productive 

 until it is fifteen years old ; and even then the 

 bark is only fit for fuel; nor does it arrive at 

 perfection till about the twenty-third year; but 

 from that period it continues to yield good cork, 

 every tenth year, for about an hundred and fifty 

 years. The season for stripping off the bark is in 

 July and August, and great care is taken not to 

 wound the inner bark, which in time becomes good 

 cork also. 



* Monoecia Polyandria, of Linnaeus. 



