CORK AND ITS USES. 
C53 
Of the early history of cork, it is very clear that it was well known and in use amongst 
the Greeks and Romans. Theophrastus distinctly alludes to the fact, now so well known, 
that the continual barking of the trees tends to improve the quality of the cork. With 
the Greeks it was called “Rhenos,” while the Romans knew it by its present specific 
name of “ Suber.” Though cork was probably used in very remote times for similar 
purposes to those of the present day—that of stoppers for bottles, amongst the rest—this, 
however, does not seem to have been its common or general use, inasmuch as we find 
that vessels of that period were frequently closed by earth, clay, and other similar sub¬ 
stances. Stoppers of cork, or “corks,” as we now call them, appear not to have been 
generally introduced till some time in the latter part of the sixteenth century; from 
that period, however, its use has been getting more and more universal in all parts of 
the world. 
Before the introduction of cork, or its general adoption for bottle-stoppers, various 
articles were resorted to for this purpose. We are told that apothecaries secured the 
contents of their phials with stoppers made of wax, which must have been a somewhat 
tedious process. But even in our own day, a similar custom prevails in many parts of 
Europe; for with many of the Italians, and Neapolitans for instance, the practice of 
■securing their wines, by pouring oil into the mouth of the bottle before tying it down 
with skin, is still very prevalent. 
Before entering into the uses of cork, however, let us pay a short visit to the forests 
from whence it is obtained, and trace its progress from its natural position to that of its 
ultimate application. 
Cork, as we all know, is the bark of a tree, though commercially miscalled “ cork¬ 
wood.” It is produced by two species of oak, Quercus Suber, L., and Quercus occiden¬ 
tals, hence called the “ cork-oaks.” These trees grow abundantly in large forests in 
Spain, Italy, the South of France, and Northern Africa, the latter species being found 
alone on the Atlantic side. This species is also peculiar, from the fact that it ripens its 
acorns in the second year. 
In general appearance, the cork-oaks differ little from the common oak, except, per¬ 
haps, that they do not attain to so large a size. There is also a slight difference in the 
form of their leaves—those of Quercus suber, L., being more lanceolate, and the margins 
not so deeply sinuate ; the acorns are also somewhat longer and more tapering in form 
than those of the common oak. 
The cork-oak does not require a rich soil; but, on the contrary, it seems to thrive best 
in poor and uncultivated ground. To collect the cork, incisions are made longitudinally 
and transversely in the bark of the living tree, the instrument used being a kind of axe, 
the handle of which terminates in a wedge-shaped form. After the bark is cut through, 
it is beaten to loosen it from the liber or inner bark, the wedge-shaped axe-handle being 
inserted to lift the bark from the trunk. The cork thus removed usually varies from 
three-quarters of an inch to three inches in thickness. The next operation is to divide 
it into pieces of a uniform or convenient size, and to flatten it, each piece having, of 
course, a similar curve, corresponding with the trunk of the tree from whence it was 
taken. For this purpose, the pieces are placed in pits and covered with water, and then 
pressed flat with heavy stones. The well-known charred surface upon these cork slabs 
is caused by the application cf heat at an open fire, after the steeping, for the purpose 
of contracting the pores. The pieces are afterwards bound up in bales, in which form 
they appear in the market. In removing the cork from its paternal trunk, care has to 
be taken not to injure the inner bark next the wood, else it would affect the second 
crop.of bark, and perhaps injure the tree. This operation of stripping the bark, if dex¬ 
terously and carefully performed, has, as we have already said, no detrimental effect, 
either upon the growth of the tree or the rapid formation of the new bark; but, on the 
contrary, the tree is said to grow more hardy and vigorously. The first crop of bark is 
usually taken when the tree is about twenty-five or thirty years old, but the crop is of 
less value than that of any succeeding gathering, as it is harder, very uneven, and more 
full of holes. The second gathering, however, which is in about eight or ten years after 
the first, is still of an inferior quality. The third crop, collected in about eight years 
after the second, is usually the first marketable cork—that is, the first crop that is fit for 
cutting into bottle-corks/ When the trees have attained to this age, so that three crops 
have been taken off, they usually yield a supply of good cork about every seven or eight 
years; and its quality improves, 'as well as the quantity enlarging, at each successive 
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