The sun., 1894-04-08
THE CORK TELLS THE STORY.
ONLY IHB BEST OUlLI1Y rs Used IN
BOITJINS GOOD LIQUORS.

Itnnd, ~ Used rsrsrior Driuks Ave
Stcpres vita hsehise-sus cSrhs-Why
O's Ohs"sns"e Srss are - Ds"e.
Are you going TO drink that stufff' Gus
tom or In down towR eaie asked Of HE COM
ranion. pointing 70 . patcnt-stopnered bottle
Of beer that had just been put before them.
IT Is q good brand Of beer. is II notf" the
eornpsnion replied.
Il don't know" the first speaker answered.
but judging from appearances should say
not. 1tis a curious thing that although am
not at all Judge Of wines or liquors. still
could 30 through the bar here and. Just from
the outer marks could pick you ont all the
good stuff in bottles and reject the poor"
The speaker was Dey street dealer In
corks. and one OF the largest importers Of
corks In this country.
There IL Schpturnl warning" he went
on. against the folly OF putting new wine Into
old bottles. But that warning was Riven be-
fore glass bottles were in use. II n similar
warning wore to be given now. IL would be
against corklnR good wine with poor corka
The bottle IL always safe. but the corkine is an
infalltble test Of the quality OF It's contentG
"A rubber stopper like the one before'us. 10
seldom used for any really good drink. II is
a last resource permissible only whom the
drink is Co be used Immediately. Bottlers Of
the best lager beer are sometimes compelled
to use them. but IL IL always under protest
and only when the beer is for Immediate use
II is well known In the trade that a rubber
cork is the worst OF all corks. DESTROYING the
flavor and other good Qualities OF the liquor
the bottle contains. and consequently lessen
ing it's value. When consumer finds his
drink poorly corked. It 10 safe for him to con-
clude that the producer does not set much VAL
ne upon his product. and that It is oil poor
quality.
ITO pick out the good liquors In this or any
other bar should Judge solely BY the eorks.
Good hauor Ia never corked with bad corks.
because It does not pay. Tho spoilinR of q
single bottle Of good wine costa moro than
gross OF the best corka
In judging Of beer" he went on. II should
FIRST reject every bottle with a rubber stopper.
But some Of the real corks might not satisfy
me. even though they were wired down. a.
they always should be- Still. with beer should
not be so particular as with Wines and should
be satisfied with machine-cut corks II the
lengths were right.
Length 10 q great factor In the usefulness
OF cork. Every bother knows what lengths
should be used. and II ho cuts down the length
IL is q sure sign that his liauo- Is not worth
much cara For ale bottiing the recognized
s,sndo I'd Ia, 9th a, cort Ia /. ,ncbes and such
corks cost from 75 cents to 81 gross For
LAGER baer n cork I. inches long. costjnp 10 10
% 80 go. Iii, 40 To- n..r.h. tr.d.
O cenes sross' viii wv ioh heh-uy uauo'
long and costing 40 cents a gross IA saiest
For brandies and hieh-grade Rhine wines
two-inch corks should be used. although 1h
70 IA inches VIII 40 IoI r. oroinAry sun a w'nee
rrosA For champaenss the corks should be
u. 'oos' i
Something more than length must be
chnmnaones and fne brandies. You must AZ
M, S ,,I
corhed with a macbine.cut cork. For cham.
na9ne the corks must he cut nv hand aad
pasne .n .ns . =, nus s. y. ",.u .us =, n1nu aN
You often hear of dealers paying SO much
pross To- .econd hand champagae cork,.
and the common belief Is that they are used
again In other champa bottles and that
they are specially priced on account OF the
brand. some color is given TO THIS behef by
the dealers Offering more for some brands of
ehAnpaehe eorAs .nAh Ior o'hers. nut mo.
ments consideration viii convince you that
t ,nat..s o 10, anx not.,ar - Ss~a a hranS,ns
o' ~. ny '..s"
sized. Old champagne corks are in demand
because they are always made of the pest Dos
si6le matsrisSi S cut by hsndi and ,S. some brands
it Is known that those brands are always
corked with the most expensive corks. They
are never under any circumstances used In
champagne bottles again but are sent TO the
hand cork cutters who paro them down with
knives to NJ smaller bottles.
There IL probably no other business In the
world In which there is as much difference be-
tween hand work and machine work a. there
is in the cork trade. Do you think that any
machine can cut as good q cork as man can
with knife? You make great mistake II
you do The maehine-cut cork Is more even
and symmetrica!. but II has not the staying
quality. which IL everything In cork. You
cannot undeTstnnd the vast difference between
the two kinds without knowing something
about the process OF handling cork. OF course
you know that nearly all our cork comes from
spain and Portugal. principally from spain l
need not 90 Into the process OF stripping the
bark from the trees. for that has been described
Thousand times, and everybody understands
it But whom the cork goes into the hands Of
the manuiactnr.rs t. is IN & slabs Ike bread
OF course, retain the rounded form OF the tree,
and to tinten them thsy are heated and nut
under heavy pressure on q nat surface. The
slight chsrring they thus receive closes the
pores and gives the cork what we call nerve
The slabs are then cut into stripe and
squares OF the size and thickness desired. and
the hand cork cutter goes TO work At them with