278 THE OAK. 
to live in vigour for 1000 years, and it is not subject to 
disease. 
Q. suber (Linnzeus) : The Cork Tree.—This species is rather 
less hardy than the common evergreen oak, although it is a 
native of the same countries, where it abounds on dry, hilly 
situations. It seldom attains a height beyond that of forty 
feet. Its mode of propagation in this country is exactly the 
same as that of the evergreen oak. 
The outer bark of this tree is the cork of commerce, and is 
by far its most important product. When the tree is young, 
the trunk is cleared of branches to the height of eight or ten 
feet ; and when it is from twenty to thirty years of age, the 
outer coating of its bark is a formation of coarse, porous cork, 
interspersed with woody matter. On its being cleared off, 
which operation is performed in July or August, it generally 
takes eight or ten years to form another cover, which is of a 
superior quality to the first. It is not, however, till after 
another interval of eight or ten years, that the cork is pro- 
duced in its purity, and of a proper thickness; but this 
generally occurs at the third disbarking. The trees are ever 
afterwards disbarked after the lapse of a similar period, care 
being taken in the operation not to cut in to the inner bark 
or wood of the trees. The operation by no means impedes 
the growth of the tree, but has rather a contrary effect. The 
quality of the cork is said to improve as the tree grows old, 
and its duration extends for many centuries. Numerous parts 
of Britain are well suited for the growth of cork, although 
few specimens of the tree are to be met with. The largest 
‘cork tree in Britain, and, Loudon says, “ perhaps the largest 
in the world,” is at Mamhead in Devonshire. It is about 
sixty feet high, with a trunk twelve feet in circumference 
above the swell of the roots. It stands alone, three miles 
from the sea, and about 450 feet above its level. The soil is 
a fine, rich, red loam, on a substratum of red-stone con- 
glomerate. Loudon remarks, “The head of the tree is oval 
and compact, and its grand massive branches, each of which 
would form a tree of noble dimensions, are covered with 
