The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1895-12-07
NOW FOR CORK ORCHARDS.

Agricultural Department Urges Plant
ing Of These Valuable Trees,
Valuable Information Concerning Cork
Can be Readily Grown in California.
Florida and Texas.
The Department. Of Agriculture has is
sued bulletin on the subject of cork 1t
will advocate the culture of cork trees in
this country. urging that forests of this
species of oak could be established with
great profit in the Southern States. Sta
tistics show that 50, 600, 900 worth OF cork
is imported into the United States annu-
ally. 1t IS steadily increasing in value,
fetching now eleven times the price that
was paid for it in 1890. The soil of CAL
ifornia is particulrly we'll adopted to the
cork, which grows there with greater
rapidity than in Europe. Already about
1000 of the trees have been planted in the
san Gabriel Valley. The University of
California has distributed several bushels
OF the acorns, which, by the way, are
very good to eat, tasting like ohestnuts.
The variety of uses to which cork is
put is extraordinary. To the Algerian
it is as great a necessity as the gave to
the Mexican or the palm to the Arab.
From it he makes boats, furniture. sad
dies, shoes, horshoes and even clothing.
Other employments for the material in
Southern Europe are for roofing, pals,
clothes. window lights, plates, tubs,
drinking vessels, religious images, fences
and collins. The waste cork from the cut
ting of bottle shoppers is utilized for fill
ing cushions and mattresses and in the
manufacture Of corkdust bricks, which
are serviceable where great dryness is re-
qui red. A very fine kind of pasteboard is
made from cork, the ground substance
being mixed with paper pulp and press
ed to squeeze out the water. Cork waste
is also used for making lifeboats, buoys,
linoleum, inner soles for shoes, artificial
legs and arms, cork concrete" and many
other articles in which lightness and
elasticity are required.
The ancient Greeks and Romans were
familiar with many of the uses to which
cork is put atthe present time. They knew
that the cork tree produced new bark
after the old had been detached. Employ
ments for it were restricted, however,
until the seventeenth century, when the
development of glass manufacture and
the widespread use of bottles made it a
necessity. BY the end Of the eighteenth
century the tree was largely cultivated
cork forests were rented, and workshops
were established for the cutting of cork.
This cultivation of the cork oak began in
Spain, and extended thence into Portu-
gal and France. There are at present in
the world g., 500, 600 acres of cork forests,
more than half of this area being in
France, Algiers and Tunis. This does
not include the forests Of Morocco. which
are still unexplored.
Though of modern origin, the cork in
dustry has attained immense Importance.
In the last half century the production
has more than doubled. About s., 600, O0C
worth of prepared cork, representing 5S7,
900 hundredweight, was sold last year.
Portugal occupies the first place as pro
ducer, while the United States, England
and Germany are the principal consum-
ers. Spain exports vast quantities oil
manufactured cork for BOTTLES. In this
industry, as well as in the quality of the
product, she SURPRISES all other countries.
The world consumes annually 1000, 900,
} 600 cut corks. The sizes and forms OF
these are regulated according to 15C
models.
The poet Horace speaks of the use OF
} cork by the ancient Romans for STOP ling
} wine vessels. OF course, they had plenty
of glass bottles, but the did not employ
cork shoppers for them. Nowadays, bicy-
Gle handles, life preservers, and hat lining
are made of cork. The material is burned
for making Spanish black. - The waste
is utilized for lining ice houses, being an
excellent non conductor, and also fol
packing grapes. Notwithstanding all
the uses for cork waste that have beer
mentioned, great quantities of it have tt
be thrown away for lack Of purposes tt
which to apply it. Cork dust is made te
serve as substitute for rice powder il
the toilet. Tons of cork are manufactured
every year into nose-holders for eyeglass
es. For these the very finest quality il
4 repaired. The inventor Of this particular
use for oork-has made big fortune ou1
of the idea He gets royalty on every
pair OF eyeglasses thus made that il
sold.
Champagne corks consume the bulk Of
the finest cork that reaches the market.
They cost cent apiece wholesale This
is because they have to be cut by hand.
Ordinary cork that is intended to be cut
by machinery is first softened by steam
SO that it may not take the edges off the
revolving knives. Cork thus treated
does well enough for common purposes,
but it has lost its elasticity and does not
make shoppers tight enough for cham.
payne. The cutting of cork by hand is a
trade requiring much skill and long eS
perience. The knives employed are SC
ouickly dulled that thew have tn he