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. y lib. xvi. cap. 8.) ; but it was 

 not extensively employed for this purpose till the 1 7th century, when glass 

 bottles, of which no mention is made before the 15th century, began to be 

 generally introduced. (See Beckmanrts 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 coirects 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 Ilamel, 

 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 

 portions, and is therefore only fit for burning, or being employed in tanning. 

 The bark is separated by first making a circular cut round the trunk, imme- 



