January 9, 1891.] 



SCIENCE. 



21 



longer requiring the shelter of the vines, The barking of the 

 cork ma}' be effected when the olant has acquired sufficient strength 

 to resist the operation, and the time chosen for this |operation 

 is in the summer. The cork of the first barking is called corcho 

 bornio, hortiizo, or virgin, and is not fit for making corks. The 

 cork taken after the first barking is called pelas, or secondary 

 cork. The method employed in Spain for this operation consists 

 in the total barking of the trunk, and not partial barking, or bark- 

 ing one part of the year, and the remainder three, four, or five 

 years later. 



In proportion as the cork is taken from the tree, it is removed, 

 and piled up in heaps. Sometimes the cork is cooked in the 

 woods, but at other times this operation is effected in the caldrons 

 that exist in the cork-factory. The slabs remain in boiling water 

 during the space of one hour, this operation causing an increase 

 of thickness (generally of one-fourth to one fifth), elasticity of the 

 cork, and dissolution of tannin and other substances. The cal- 

 drons in which the cork is boiled are of copper, and are either 

 cylindrical or rectangular. The boiling of the cork can also be 

 effected by steam, for which purpose it is introduced into a 

 wooden box lined on the inside with copper or zinc, which is fil'ed 

 with water and steam injected therein. The steaming of cork 

 sometimes hardens it and makes it brittle. The loss of weight 

 produced by boiling the cork varies between twelve and forty per 

 cent. 



In making corks it is necessary to take away the hard crust, 

 or raspa, for which purpose a tool is used with a short han- 

 dle and curved blade, called doladera, raspador, or raspeta. A 

 workman can scrape from two to three square metres of cork 

 daily, and the loss in weight of the cork by scraping is from 

 twenty to thirty per cent. Scraping-machines are also used, two 

 systems being employed, — the Besson and Tousseau. The former, 

 propelled by steam, consists principally of horizontal spindles 

 supplied with comb-like teeth, and turning with great velocitj-, at 

 the rate of nine hundred revolutions a minute. The Tousseau 

 scraper attacks the cork by means of a vertical iron shaft carrying 

 several knives, whose edges are also vertical, and by the rotary 

 movement of the shaft, giving fourteen hundred turns a minute, 

 work like a brush. This machine is simpler than the Besson, and 

 the slabs suffer less damage when worked by inexperienced work- 

 men. Before cutting the slabs into strips, they are cooked for 

 about half an hour, so as to facilitate the cutting, and piled up 

 soon after in a damp place, so as to preserve the softness until 

 ready to opei-ate upon. The slabs are divided into three strips 

 (rebanadas), the width of which is equal to the length of the 

 corks, and in su(Jfi a way, that, if the cork be placed in the posi- 

 tion occupied by the slab on the tree, they would have their 

 fibres running alike. The workmen obtaui or cut the strips by 

 means of a knife with fiat surface and curved edge, called ciwhilla 

 de rebanar. The strips are then made into squai-es by means of 

 the cuchilla. They then have the edges cut, and, thus prepared, 

 they are ready to be made into corks. This and the preceding 

 operation are the most diflicult of the cork-industry, requiring 

 great intelligence if the slabs and strips are to be cut to the best 

 advantage 



In the manufacture of the corks, the squares made into 

 octagons first pass into the hands of the workman, who is fur- 

 nished with a knife composed of two pieces, — one of them similar 

 to an ordinary knife, anrl the other a blade the edge of which fits 

 into the first. Consul Schench says that only by seeing is it pos- 

 sible to form an idea of the rapidity vs-ith which these men take 

 hold of a square, and from it make a cork. They hold the knife 

 by a small iron catch to the taMe in front of them, and, giving to 

 the square a circular movement, the result is that the cork is 

 made in a few seconds. The squares are usually boiled for about 

 a quarter of an hour. They are then deposited in a cool place, 

 and four or five days after they are sorted, and kept damp until 

 required. The amount which the workmen receive for cutting 

 1,000 corks varies from .75 to i pesetas according to the kind of 

 workmen {the peseta is equivalent to about 9+ pence). 



Machines are also employed to make coi-ks; and all consist, 

 at the base, of a knife, the blade of which is placed horizontally, 

 joined generally to a piece of wood, and to which a backward 



and forward movement is given similar to that of a caipenter's 

 plane. In moving, the knife tm-ns the square cork, which, be- 

 ing attacked by the knife, takes off a strip of cork more or less 

 thick, according to the distance from the axle of the cork to the 

 edge of the knife. If these are parallel, the result is that the 

 cork is cylindrical; and if not, it becomes conical. The cork- 

 maker or workman has a large basket, or several of them, in 

 which he places the corks according to size or quality; but this 

 first classification is not sufficient, and the corks are placed upon 

 a table, the back part of which is furnished with boxes the front 

 part of which are open to the operator. To classify the corks ac- 

 cording to size, they also employ wooden boxes, the bottoms of 

 which can be taken out or put in, having a kind of grating of 

 wood somewhat resembling Venetian blinds. The boxes are sus- 

 pended by ropes to the ceiling, and the workman gives it a swing 

 backwards and forwards, by which the smaller corks drop out at 

 the bottom. With this apparatus worked by one man, 100,000 

 corks are classified for their size in one day. The corks are 

 washed in a solution of oxalic acid or bioxalate of potash. As 

 soon as washed they are placed out to dry gradually in the shade, 

 in order to enable them to retain the silky gloss which the cork 

 has when it is damp. For packing, 30,000 corks constitute what 

 is called a bale. For South America and Oceania, bales consisting 

 of 5,000 to 10,000 corks are made, and for England the sacks or 

 bales are made to contain 100 gross, or 14,400 corks for those of 

 the larger size, and 150 gross for those of smaller dimensions. The 

 greatest number of corks are manufactured in the province of 

 .Gerona; and the most important towns engaged in the industry 

 are San Filieu de Quixols, Palafrugell, and Cassa de la Selva. 

 The number of workmen engaged in the cork-industry in Spain 

 is said to be not less than 12,000. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



According to M. Edouard Marbeau, in the Revue Franfaise de 

 VEtranger et des Colonies, quoting from Professor L6on Le Fort, 

 the following is the rate of increase of population in several 

 European countries : for every 1,000 inhabitants there are bom in 

 Hungary 43 children; in Germany, 39; in England, 35; in 

 France, 35. In 1778 the number in France was 38.4. At the 

 present rate of increase, the population would be doubled in 

 Saxony in 45 years; in England, in 52 years; in Prussia, in 54 

 years; in France, in 198 years. 



— The Belgian consul-general at Singapore, in a report quoted 

 in the English Board of Trade Journal, says that rubies and 

 sapphires abound in the Siamese provinces of Chantaboun and 

 Battambang. Several mines have been worked since a remote 

 period by the natives, but for a long time they produced for the 

 most part only stones of little value. It was in 1874 that the first 

 mine of sapphires of good quality was discovered by a native 

 huntsman in the environs of Chantaboun. The place was very 

 difficult of access, so that the news of the discovery spread 

 slowly. Rangoon being still at that time the nearest market to 

 Siam for the sale of precious stones, the Burmans were the first to 

 know of the existence of the new mine by the stones which were 

 offered for sale at Rangoon. Some went there, and the large sums 

 which they brought on their return from the sale of their produce 

 brought about a movement of very active eniigration for the same 

 destination during the years 1878 and 1s79. The new-comers 

 discovered several mines as rich as the first. But there, as at 

 Bantaphan, fevers made such sad ravages in the ranks of the 

 workers, that in 1880 the number of arrivals decreased in con- 

 siderable proportions; and at the present time the population of 

 these mines, which once reached the figure of 10,000, consists of a 

 few Pegu Toung-Thons, who can ward off better than other races 

 the ills resulting from the terrible climate of the country. Rubies, 

 onyx, and jades are also found in considerable quantities in the 

 province of Chantaboun, but theii- quality leaves much to be de- 

 sired. Battambana; is as rich in precious stones as Chantaboun, 

 and it is stated that I'ecently diamonds have been found near the 

 frontier of Cambodia; but the mines of this province are .Timost 

 abandoned because of the insalubrity of the climate,aD.l .lu y-i.-t 

 of protection for foreign workers 



