MANUFACTURES, ETC. 255 



tlie tree the slabs of cork are scraped so as to 

 clean the outer surface, are then flattened under 

 pressure with the aid of heat, and finally tied in 

 bundles for shipment. 



" By far the most important use of cork is for 

 stoppers. It is estimated that the daily con- 

 sumption amounts to twenty millions. Cork 

 stoppers are cut either by hand or by machinery. 

 Large flat corks have to be cut so that the 

 channels pass from top to bottom. Such corks 

 require, therefore, the use of some sealing 

 material such as wax, to make them impervious. 

 Smaller corks are cut so that the channels go 

 from side to side and hence are airtight without 

 sealing. In the cutting, almost half the material, 

 or more, becomes waste chips. So valuable are 

 the properties of cork, however, that even in 

 this form it may be utilized in important ways. 

 Thus, pulverized and mixed with rubber or with 

 boiled linseed oil, it forms, when spread on 

 canvas, a floor covering at once durable and 

 sound-deadening. Coarsely ground cork serves 

 well on account of' its softness and elasticity as 

 packing for fruit, especially grapes ; and, when 

 glued to paper, forms a safe wrapping for bottles 

 in transportation. The same remarkable pro- 

 perties make masses of cork most effective 

 buffers for vessels. In the form of thin sheets 

 it has long been used as a material for insoles 



