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The largest quantity and best quality of 

 cork is exported from Spain. In that 

 country cork is said to he employed on 

 floors in lieu of carpets, and on walls in 

 lieu of tapestry. The Romans are said to 

 have used cork for the same purposes as 

 we ourselves, not excepting even cork 

 soles. In some of the Greek islands cork 

 is used for beehives. A floorcloth now 

 coming into extensive use, from its dead- 

 ening the sound of footsteps, and called 

 Kamptulicon, is said to be manufactured 

 from cork and caoutchouc. Burnt cork 

 or Spanish-black is used for dyeing pur- 

 poses, and was formerly employed in me- 

 dicine. Some of the kinds of elm also 

 produce cork, though not in sufficient quan- 

 tity to be of much use : see Ulmus. The 

 name Suber is supposed, with reason, to be 

 derived from the Greek suphar, ' bark.' 



Several species furnish bark of much 

 value for tanning and dyeing purposes ; 

 this arises from the presence of tannic- 

 and gallic acids. The common oaks of this 

 country are barked or peeled in spring 

 and early summer, a period when the bark 

 contains the most astringent matter, and is 

 also most readily separated from the wood. 

 The slabs of bark as they are removed are 

 stacked in large heaps to dry. Oak-bark is 

 very largely employed in this country in 

 the manufacture of leather. After it has 

 been used for this purpose, it is still ser- 

 viceable to gardeners for the warmth it 

 generates, and is largely used by them 

 under the name of Tan ; it has, however, 

 the objection of favouring the growth of 

 certain fungi, which are occasionally very 

 deleterious to the plants. Refuse tan is 

 also less creditably employed in the adul- 

 teration of chicory and coffee. In Brittany 

 tan, compressed into cakes, is used as fuel. 

 Oak-bark also is employed for dyeing black, 

 in conjunction with salts of iron. With 

 alum, oak-bark yields the dyer a brown 

 tint ; with a salt of tin, a yellow colour ; 

 with a salt of zinc, Isabella yellow. 



Q. tinctoria, a North American species, 

 yields Quercitron Bark, employed for dye- 

 ing yellow. . Q. aquatica, also a native of 

 North America, supplies a bark made use 

 of by the tanners of that country. The 

 bark of the South European Q. Ilex is also 

 used by tanners, while the American 

 Indians are said to dye their skins red by 

 means of the bark of Q. Prinus. The cups 

 of otherkinds are also employed by tanners 

 and dyers. Foremost in importance in this 

 respect are those of Q. Mgilops, a native 

 of the Mediterranean regions. These cups 

 are sometimes very large, at other times 

 smaller ; they are used for ornamental pur- 

 poses in the East, and are imported in 

 enormous quantities from the Levant for 

 tanning purposes under the name of Va- 

 lonia. Camata and Camatina are also fur- 

 nished by this tree ; they are simply the 

 undeveloped acorns, enclosed within the 

 partially ripened cups. Camatina is the 

 least developed of the two. Q. sinensis 

 supplies a dye in China. 



Few trees are so subject to the forma- 

 tion of the morbid growths called galls as 



are the various kinds of Oak. The galls 

 are various in appearance, and result from 

 the puncture of different speciesof gall-flies 

 (Cunips and Aphis). The common oaks of 

 this country are much affected by them— 

 sometimes on the leaves, where they form 

 the so-called oak-apples .'sometimes on the 

 shoots, where they do great mischief by 

 checking and distorting the growth of the 

 tree. The galls of commerce are imported 

 from the Levant, and are produced by Q. 



Quercus infectoria (with galls). 

 infectoria. They are largely used in the 

 manufacture of ink, for dyeing purposes, 

 and for the preparation of tannic and of 

 gallic acids. The same tree also furnishes 

 the galls known as Mecca Galls, which are 

 supposed to be the Dead Sea or Sodom 

 Apples, 'the fruit that never comes to ripe- 

 ness,'— the fruit so pleasant to the eye, so 

 bitter to the taste. 



Q. coccifera, a native of the Mediterranean 

 region, affords a bark used by tanners, and 

 gives sustenance to an insect like the co- 

 chineal insect, and which is used as a crim- 

 son dye under the name kermes. This was 

 much employed prior to the introduction 

 of cochineal, and is still largely used in the 

 East. The name kermes is derived from 

 the Arabic word for worm, and is the 

 parent of the French cramoisi, and the 

 Euglish crimson. 



The medical properties of the various 

 Oaks are due to the astringency imparted 

 by the tannic and gallic acid they contain. 

 Thus common oak-bark is employed as an 

 astringent and tonic ; so also is that of Q. 

 coccifera. The leaves of Q.falcata are stated 

 to have been employed as astringent ap- 

 plications in gangrene. Galls also are used 

 as tonics and astringents, and as an anti- 

 dote to certain vegetable poisons, whose 

 activity they lessen by the combination of 

 their tannic acid with the organic alkali 

 of the poison. Tannic and gallic acids are 

 of great service in certain forms of hemor- 

 rhage, and are employed in various ways in 

 the arts. 



In olden times the rude inhabitants of 

 Britain and other northern countries 

 prized the Oak for the food furnished by 

 the acorns, not only to their herds of swine 



