164 CORK. 



darker. The workman commences the stripping, which 

 is called "demasclage". hv making two circular incisions 

 round the tree through the whole depth of the cork 

 la\'er and then connects these rings hv longitudinal slits, 

 the number of which varies according to the size of 

 the tree. This operation is accomplished hv an axe, 

 which has a sharpened, wedge-shaped handle. He 

 inserts this under the bark through the cuts and raises 

 it. Then the sheets of cork are weighted with stones 

 so that the\- ma\' lose their curve, and are held over 

 fire and their surface a little charred. It is essential that 

 the sheets of cork be dr^' before the^• are exported. 



Cork is the natural protection of plants. The older 

 bark of almost all our bushes and trees is covered with 

 cork and owes its colouring to it. (Jases and liquids 

 cannot penetrate cork which is elastic and has great powers 

 of resistance. These Cjualities are not only of service to 

 the living plant but determine its practical utility. If a 

 plant is injured suberous tissue forms over the wound 

 and encloses it : hence the new growth of cork on a 

 stripped Oak. Like any other tissue cork consists of 

 cells. Indeed it was in a piece of cork that Robert Hooke 

 discovered, in 16A7, those chambers which lie called "cells" 

 because they appeared to him to correspond to the cells 

 of a honeycomb. The cells ot mature cork contain no 

 living protoplasm, that substance Avhlch constitutes the 

 life of a cell. Cork cells dispense with this, soon after 

 the)' are formed, in order that their corky covering maA- 

 serve the plant as a protection. A special layer of livino- 

 tissue inside the bark - - the so-called cork cambium 



