Daily national Democrat., 1861-03-30
The Cork Tree.

AS the wine culture of California is destin-
ed to be vast, and, as there is no article so
well adapted to stopping bottles as cork, it
may not be amss to call attention to the sub
ject of the cultivation of the cork tree. The
cork, (quercus suber) is an oak, and is ma
Africa. Forests of it grow in Spain, and 1t
has been successfully cultivated in England
and Ireland as an ornamental tree. There
seems to be nothing to hinder its being grown
in California, for it fourishes in parallel
as well as in colder ATTITUDES. 1t grows in
its wild state, in dry, hilly places, and lis
usual hight is twenty to thirty feet, although
by cultivation it has been made to grow as
high as sixty. The wood of the tree is APP
picabe to purposes similar to those which
the ordinary oak is applied to, but the bark
furnishes the grand commodity of value.
The method of removing the bark for pur-
poses of commerce, is as follows: When
the tree has attained an age of about fifteen
or twenty years, the bark is ed for the
first time but this bark is found to be crack
ed and full of cells and woody portions, and
is only fit for tanning or burning. The tree
is now left for eight or ten years, when it is
disbarked as before, (the inner bark being
left in both cases, to secure the vitality of the
tree for there is an outside and an inside
bark), and the second crop, being still infe-
rinr ia sold IN f. borpton 10 hnnx- ibair
nets, and for other more common uses. "By
the expiration of eight or ten years more,
says the authority before us--a report to the
Patent Office Department" third disbark-
ing takes place, when the cork is found to
possess the requisite thickness and quality
From this time, as long as the tree exists in Il
growing state, which may be two or three
centuries, its disbarking may be performed
every eight or ten years. and the quality o.
the cork improving with the increasi sing age
of the tree" The cork, when first removed
is in laminae, more or less curved To rem
edy this. the bark. afer being scraped, i;
held over fire till scorched when it is laC
on the ground and held down by stones til
it becomes set, and this form it afterward,
retains. There is nothing peculiar" says q
well Informed writer, &" in the culture of the
cork oak, after planting the young trees, ex-
cept that they be pruned, 40 as to have a
clear stem of ten or twelve feet in hight, on
which the cork is afterwards to be produced
The acorns designed for propagation, usually
| ripen in October, must be buried in moder-
after they fall from the tree, and planted the
spring following, with the small ends down.
ward, about one fourth of an inch below the
surface, either in the nursery or on the sit,
where they are to remain. Whenever it il
desirable to transport them to distance Ell
ther by sea or on land, through warm eli
mates or cold, it can safely be done by sol
dering them up Theoretically in small me
talc cases, with about their own bulk of gar
den soil | have repeatedly opened cases o
; this sort in the month of June, which ha,
: been closed in the South of Europe the au
: tumn preceding, and found the acorns in ex
| cellent condition, most of them in a GROWN!
state"
Besides being useful in the way of ord
nary oak, for the wood may be used for vari
Gus purposes, the acorns may be used as food
, (the Spaniards often roast and eat them) ant
} they make as good mast for hogs as coul,
} be desired.