April 1, 1864.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. 



THE PALAIS DE L'lNDUSTRIE, PARIS. 303 



In North America and the Antilles : Martinique and Guadeloupe. 



In the Atlantic : Saint Pierre and Miquelon. 



In South America : French Guiana. 



In Oceanica : The Marquesas Islands, Taiti, and New Caledonia. 



It is not very long since the French Government and nation looked 

 upon their Algerian possessions only in the light of a burden ; now 

 this opinion is entirely changed, a circumstance mainly attributable 

 to the Great International Exhibition of 1851, where for the first 

 time a very complete collection of the Algerian products was pre- 

 sented to the public. After this the French government purchased a 

 private house in Paris for these collections, but only students and 

 travellers were then admitted to it ; and I have no doubt that they 

 derive their present general importance from being united with the 

 other colonial productions in the " Palais de lTndustrie." The Algerian 

 products, as well as those of the other colonies, are classed in four divi- 

 sions : — 



1. Vegetables and vegetable productions. 



2. Minerals. 



3. Animals and animal products. 



4. Indigenous industry and ethnography. 



I intend to confine myself to a short account of the two former 

 divisions, especially that of Botany, which study offers such rich 

 treasures to every one who can enjoy the blessings of Nature. One of 

 the most valuable trees of Algeria is the cork- oak {Quercus suher), an 

 inhabitant of the coasts of the Mediterranean basin, where it occupies 

 considerable plains of an extent of about 300,000 hectares, and it seems 

 a silicious soil is that best suited for it. At the age of twenty-five 

 its commercial importance begins. Its exterior suberous bark is first 

 loosened, but this gives only a cork of inferior quality ; nevertheless, it 

 is used for pipes as aqueducts, for making corks, and in the preparation 

 of lamp-black ; it also serves to surround the steins of the young trees 

 to protect them against the gnawing of certain animals, so that this first 

 produce is necessary for the quality and abundance of later crops, 

 which take place periodically, that is, as soon as the bark has acquired 

 sufficient thickness, which generally occurs once in ten years. After 

 having loosened the bark, they bring it into the work-sheds, steep it 

 close to the fire in boiling water, and then subject it to a heavy 

 pressure in order to flatten it. It is afterwards cut into lengths and sec- 

 tions of different size, according to the purpose to which it is to be 

 applied. The annual value of the cork exported to France amounts at 

 present to a sum of three million francs. 



From Africa Home obtained those costly tables Pliny mentions 

 in his Natural History, and whose price amounted to upwards of 

 300,000 francs. The wood of which they are made is furnished by 

 Callltris quadrivalvis, and we see here a beautiful variety of veins, 

 undulations, and ramifications on a dark ground, or brown designs on a 



