32 
CORK OAK. 
July and August are the seasons for gathering it. For this purpose two 
opposite longitudinal incisions are made through the whole length of the 
trunk, and two others, transverse to the first at the extremities ; the bark 
is then detached by inserting a hatchet-handle shaped like a wedge. Great 
care must be taken not to wound the alburnum, as the bark is never 
renewed upon the injured parts. After being scraped, the bark is heated 
on its convex side, and laden with stones, to flatten it and render it easier 
of transportation. In Catalonia it is cut into pieces and boiled to improve 
its quality. Its excellence cpnsists in being compact, supple and elastic, 
and it should be from 15 to 20 lines thick. 
The cork produced in France may be reckoned at 17,000 or 18,000 
quintals, and when the sheets are smooth and even, each quintal affords 
7,000 or 7,500 corks 18 lines long. The common price is a dollar and 
seventy cents a thousand, of which fifty cents must be allowed for the 
expense of making. It is computed that 110 or 115 millions of corks are 
annually consumed in France. 
This tree would be an important acquisition to the Uuited States, and 
would grow wherever the Live Oak subsists. The soil of the pine barrens 
is in general too meager to sustain its vegetation ; the bed of vegetable 
mould is in many places too thin, and the sand beneath so homogeneous, 
that the roots of the Pines, instead of shooting downward, fold themselves 
back, as if repelled by a solid rock. 
Both public and private interest requires the inhabitants of the Southern 
coast, and especially the neighbouring islands, to rear the Cork Oak about 
their plantations, and in places that are unfit for the cultivation of cotton. 
It should also be introduced into West Tennessee, and with the more rea- 
son as the Vine may be cultivated there with success. 
As the young stocks are injured by transplanting, they should be per- 
manently fixed the second or third year. To favour their growth, the 
earth should be loosed about the roots two or three times a year ; and to 
render them tall and well shaped, the lower branches should be cut even 
with the trunk. Their vegetation is in this manner strengthened and the 
bark improved ; without further attention they will continue to afford a 
valuable product during two or three centuries. 
This tree has great advantages over several others which would likewise 
flourish in the same parts of the United States, such as the Olive and the 
White Mulberry. To fit their produce for consumption, particularly that 
of the Mulberry, requires complicated processes, which can be performed 
wdth advantage only in populous countries. Flence the attempts made 70 
or SO years ago in Georgia to introduce the rearing of silk worms proved 
abortive ; and the old White Mulberry Trees that still remain are monu- 
ments of that ill-calculated speculation. The bark of the Cork Oak, on 
the contrary, might be transported to the Northern States, or made into 
