May 2, 1892.] 
THE THOPICAL A6Rl6ULTUR(St. 
8rS 
vince of Geroiia. It grows and develops in ground 
of very little depth, and aometinies in very stony 
ground. The leaves of the cork tree are oval-oblong 
or elongated oval, frequently toothed, and the teeth 
jagged; length, from three to five ceutiinotres, and 
width from one and a lialf to two. The roots are 
strong, and spread considerably, and are frequently 
to be seen on the surface of the groxmd. It some- 
times happens that the portion of root exposed to 
the air produces cork, wnile that which is buried 
produces scarcely any. The moat common practice 
18 to cultivate the plant by sowing, which is frequetly 
done, especially in ground somewhat nmnurecl, 
making alternate furrows with vines. Up to their 
twentieth or twenty-fifth year the ground is culti- 
vated as if it were a vineyard, rooting up at that 
age the vines on account of producing less fruit, 
and also on account of the cork trees Doing (fairly 
grown up, and no longer requiring the shelter of 
the vines. The barking of the cork may be effected 
when the plant has acquired sufficient strength to 
resist the operation, and the time chosen for this 
operation is in the summer. The cork of the first 
barking is called corcho hornio, honiino or virgin, and 
is not fit for making corks. The cork taken after 
the first barking is called nelat*, or secondary cork. 
The method employed in Spain for this operation 
consists in the total barking of the trunk, and not 
partial barking, or barking one part of the year and 
the remainder throe, four, or five years later. In 
proportion as tlie cork is taken from the tree it is 
removed and piled up in heaps. Soinotirncs the cork 
is cooked in the woods, hut at other times this oper- 
ation is effected in the cauldrons that exist in the 
cork factory. The slabs remain in boiling water 
during the space of one hour, this operation causing 
an increase of thickness (generally of one-fourth to 
one-fifth), elasticity of the cork, and dissolution of 
tannin and other substances. The canldi-ons in which 
the cork is boiled are of copper, and are either 
cylindrical or rectangular. The boiling of the cork 
can also be effected by steam, for which purpose it 
is introduced into a wooden box lined on the inside 
with copper or zinc, which is filled with water and 
steam injected therein. The stcaining of cork some- 
times hardens it and makes it brittle. The loss of 
weight produced by boiling the cork varies between 
twelve and forty per cent. In making corks it is 
necessary to take away the hard crust or ranmi, for 
which purpose a tool is used with a short nandle 
and curved blade, called (Madtra, raHjiudor, or raspeta. 
A workman can scrape from two to three square 
metres of cork daily, and the loss in weight of the 
cork by scraping is from twenty to thirty per cent, 
beraping machines are also used, two systems being 
oinployed, the liosson and Tonsseau. The former, 
propelled by steam, consists priticipally of horizontal 
spindles, supplied with comb-like teeth, and tur- 
ning with groat velocity, at the rate of nine hundred 
revolutions a miniito. Tlie Tousseaii scraper attacks 
the cork by the means of a vertical iron shaft, 
carrying several knives, whoso edges are also vertical, 
and by tho rotary movomont of the shaft, giving 
fourteen hundred turns a minute, work like a brush. 
This machine is simpler than tho liosson, and the 
slabs suffer less damage when worked by inexperi- 
enced workmen. Jieforo Quitting tho slabs in strips 
they are cooked for about half an hour, so as to 
facilitate the cutting, and piled up soon after in a 
damp place, so as to preserve the softness until 
ready to operate upon. The slabs are divided into 
throe strips {rehauadas)^ the width of which is equal 
to the length of the corks, and in anch a way that 
if tho cork be placed in tho position occupied by tho 
slab on the tree they would liavo their fibres running 
alike. The workmen obtain or cut the strips by 
riieana of a knife with fiat surface and curved edge, 
called cvehiUa de rehaiiar. The strips are then made 
into squares by means of tho ciirfiilfa. They then 
have the edges cut, and thus prepared they are 
ready to be made into corks. This and tlic preced- 
nig operation are the most difficult of the cork in- 
duatry, requiring groat intelligence if the slabs and 
strips are to bo cut to tho best advantage. In tlie 
pionufacluie ^ tho corks, tho stjuaros made into 
octagons first pass into tho hands of the workman 
who is furnished with a knife composed of two pieces 
one of them similar to an ordinary knife and tho 
other a blade, the edges of which fits into the first. 
Consul Schench says that only by seeing is it pos- 
sible to form an idea of the rapidity with which 
those men take hold of a square and from it make 
a cork— they hold the knife by a small iron catch 
to the table in front of them, and giving to the 
square a circular movement, the result is that the 
cork is made in a few seconds. The squares are 
usually boiled for about a quarter of an hour, they 
are then deposited in a cool place, and four or five 
days after they are sorted and kept damp nntil re- 
quired. The amount which the workmen receive for 
cutting 1,0(K) corks varies from 0*75 to 4 pesetas, ac- 
cording to the kind of workmen (tho peseta is equi- 
valent to about 9id.l. Different systems of machinery 
are employed to make corks, and all consist, at the 
base, of a knife, the blade of which is placed hori- 
zontally, joined generally to a piece of wood, audio 
which a back and forward movement is given similar 
to that of a carpenter’s plane. In moving, the knifo 
turns the square cork, which being attacked by the 
knife takes off a strip of cork, more or loss thick, 
according to tlie distance from tho axle of the cork 
and the edge of tho knifo. If these are parallel, 
the result is the cork is cylindrical, and if it is not 
it bocomes conical. The corkmaker or workman has 
a largo basket or several of them in which he 
places the corks according to size or quality, but 
tins lust classification is not suflicient, and the corks 
are placed upon a table, the back part of which is 
fimushod witli.boxes, the front part of which are 
open to the operator. To classify the corks accord- 
ing to size, they also employ wooden boxes, tho 
bottoms of which can be taken out or put in, having 
a kind of grating of wood somewhat resembling 
Venetian blinds. The boxes are suspended by ropes 
to the ceiling, and tho workman gives it a swing 
backwards and forwards, by which tho smaller corks 
drop out at the bottom. ACith this apparatus worked 
by one man, 100,000 corks arc classified for their size 
in one day. The corks are washed in a solution of 
oxalic acid or bioxalato of potash. As soon as washed 
they are placed out to dry gradually in tlie shade, 
01 order to enable them to retain the silky gloss 
^ » cork has when it is damp. For packing, 
.W,(X)0 corks constitute what is called a bale. For 
♦ Oceania, bales consisting of 5,000 
to 10, (XK) corks are made, and for Kngland the socks 
1 made to contain KX) gross or 11,400 
corks for those of the larger size, and 150 gross for 
those of smaller dimeiiflious. Tho greatest number 
of corks aro manufactured in the province of Goronn, 
and the most important towns engaged in the in- 
dustry are San Filiou do Gnixols, Palafrugell, and 
Uassa de la Selva. The mimbor of workmen engaged 
in tho cork industry in Spain is said to bo not less 
than 12,000.— «/ewr«/u of tho l^ocktfj of 
(JUAii AND IRON IN INDIA. 
Tbe recent uewa from homo about the aeriouB strike 
lu the coal trade may have a most important beatio* 
on tneee produota of the East. It i, often foritotteii 
that the Indian Qoverumeut ia probably the largest 
owner of these two pillars ol prosperity in the cirilisod 
world. I here are thirty thousand squaro mtleB of 
coal strata in India, the corresponding area in England 
18 lew than twelve thousand, and, says Philip.^, all tho 
Ruropoiin fields do not contain as much coal as tho 
ooal meaaaroaof Great BriUin. In the United States 
and Ohioa aloao there are, it is beUeved, ooalfioldn 
surpaseiog those of India and England in area and 
va'ue. England Uss been using up her ooal recently 
I 0 the exltiit of about one hundred and fifty million 
tons per annum, tbe outturn having increased from 
sjxty.foar millions in 1865, and the export having 
more then trebled in twenty-three years. Such beinS 
the r.thor .Urming silustiou, la 1868 a committeelwaa 
“i- ®*l*»wtion of our co.l beds .nd 
the ptoboble auratiou of our reantining ioppli^ 
