21 6 
CORK TREE. 
est trees, and that the removal of this substance is 
far from proving injurious to the plant, since a cork 
tree which is barked every eight, nine, or ten years, 
will live for a century and a half, and sometimes 
longer. 
In July and August the persons employed upon 
the cork trees begin their operations. The chief 
instrument that they use for the purpose of raising 
the bark, is a small hatchet, with a handle termi- 
nating in a wedge. With this instrument they slit 
the bark from the top of the tree to the bottom, and 
then make a circular incision at the two ends of the 
slit ; after this is done the bark is well beaten with 
the back of the hatchet, in order to loosen it from 
the tree; and it is then raised by introducing under 
it the wedge-shaped handle, till the whole piece by 
degrees is detached from the wood. In this part of 
the business the people are careful not to damage 
the fine skin that adheres to the body of the tree, 
lest they should be deprived of a future harvest; for 
when this is removed, the cork ceases to grow again 
unti.1 it is re-established, and that does not happen 
for several years. 
The cork is cut into pieces of four or five feet in 
length, and afterwards scraped to render its surface 
even. The pieces are then placed over burning 
coals in order to blacken them ; and it is said that 
this operation at the same time closes the pores, and 
improves the quality of the cork. Duhamel ob- 
serves, that all the pieces are washed, and then 
placed one upon the other, and loaded either with 
