THE CORK OAK. 



275 



dish chocolate to warm brown, or a peculiar 

 tinge of grey which catches the eye at a dis- 

 tance. The mature foliage is dark green, the 

 upper surface of the leaves hard, shining, and 

 often sharply convex, the under-side grey and 

 downy and the acorns large and long, coming 

 in prettily scaled cups. Trees vary so much in 

 size and form of leaf 

 and fruit, that bota- 

 nists have sought to 

 distinguish several va- 

 rieties,butthese merge 

 so gradually into one 

 another through in- 

 termediate forms as 

 to render distinction 

 futile. Impatient of 

 change the Cork-tree 

 is best grown from 

 the acorns produced 

 in abundance by ma- 

 ture trees, the kernels 

 of which are greedily 

 eaten by swine, and 

 in times of scarcity 

 have been used for hu- 

 man food. The wood 

 of the Cork being ir- 

 regular and coarse in 

 grain is of little value 

 save as fuel or for the 

 making of charcoal of 

 a good quality. In old 

 trees it is dark brown- 

 ish-red in colour and 

 heavy, but brittle and 

 liable to sudden frac- 

 ture and rots so quick- 

 ly as to be less fit for 

 rustic-work than its 

 appearancewould sug- 

 gest. The average life 

 of the tree is about 

 1 50 years, but there 

 are few trees more uncertain in this respect, for 

 though long drought does not affect it, large 

 trees often die either suddenly or piecemeal, 

 without any apparent cause. Great loss also 

 occurs from forest-fires during the hot sum- 

 mers, while the myriads of ants with which 

 most mature trees are infested have also a bad 

 effect on their health. The bark, or spongy rind 



3 inches in thickness, from which the tree 

 derives its commercial value, is removed once 

 in nine or ten years, during the late summer 

 when the second sap is in movement, and 

 comes away quite readily. Enormous forests 

 of evergreen Oaks cover the mountains in 

 Algeria and Tunis, and in the richer hollows 



among these mountains their beauty is often 

 great ; but the country being fearfully hot in 

 summer the growth on the exposed hill sides 

 is not so good, and the trees often stubby. It is 

 clear from the natural home of these Oaks that 

 it is only in the warmer southern valleys and 

 genial coast districts that fine results can be 

 looked for from this beautiful tree. 



