The Penn's Grove record., 1895-11-22
A NEW lhpusrRY.
me Cultivation Of Cork to Be Intro
duced Here.

S0e III THIS country, ufslns -
.oIes.s or this species of oak could De
aaolished with great profit in ths
30 oonrn States. Statistics show tina.
~rr,vvo,oOo OF cork Ia Imported Into tne
United states annually. 1t Is steadily
osAsing in value. fetching now
e'en Times the price that was PAID
or u IN l7eo. The soil Of California Il
~particularly well adapted to the corr
sA, Which grows there with greater
aploity than in Europe. Already abou'
.,ooo OF the trees have been planted ID
2 san Gabriel valley. The University
- oaiirornia has distributed several
ousneis Of the acorns, which, by the
way, are very good to eat, tasting ike
chestnuts.
me variety Of uses to which cork IA
put is extraordinary. To the Algerian
- as great a necessity as the agave
70 me Mexican or palm to the Arab
from u ne makes boats, furniture, SAD
uies SHOES, h~orseshoes and even cloth
ing. Other employments for the materi
al IN southern Europe are for roofing
pals. clothes, window lights, plates
.uDs' drinking vessels, religious images
FENCES n collins. The waste cork from
sne cutting of bottle-stoppers is utilized
Ior ming cushions and mattresses and
IN the manufacture of cork-dust bricks
A very fine kind of pasteboard is made
from cork, the substance being mixed
with paper pulp and pressed to squeeze
out n water. Cork waste Is also used
Tor making nfe-boats, buoys, llnoleum,
inner soles for shoes, artificial legs and
arms, cork corsets," and many other
article In which lightness and elias
ITCHY are required.
The ancient Greeks and Romans wero
familiar with many of the uses to
Which cork Is put at the present time.
They knew that the cork tree produced
o new bark after the old had been de-
tached. Employments for 1t were re-
stricted, however, until the seventeenth
century, when the development of glass
manufacture and the widespread use OF
bottles made 1t a necessity. By the end
OF the eighteenth century the tree was
largely cultivated; cork forests were
rented, and workshops were establish
ed for the cutting of cork. The cultiva'
ton OF the cork oak began in Spain and
extended thence into Portugal and
France. There are at present in the
world 100000 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
industry has attained immense import.
ance. In the last half century the pro-
duction has more than doriaSd About
$s,OOO.OOO worth Of prepared cork, rep
resenting $4,000 hundredweight was
sold last year. Portugal occupies the
first place as a producer, while the Uni
ted States, England and Germany are
the principal consumers. Spain exports
vast quantities of manufactured cork
for bottles. In this industry. as well
as in the quality Of the product, she sur
passes all other countries. The world
consumes annually 100000, 900 cut
corks. The sizes and forms of these arr
according to $50 models.
Champagne corks consume the bulk
of the finest cork that reaches the mar
ket. They cost a 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 com.
purposes; but 1t has lost its elias.
ITCHY and oes not make shoppers tight
enough for champagne. The cutting
of cork by hand is a trade requiring
much skill and long experience. The
knives employed r SO quickly dulled
that they have to be sharpened con-
stantly by the cork cutter as he works,
The great champagne houses often en-.
the entire output Of ~cork-cutting
establishments in Spain and Portugal.
In these countries the business occupies
whole villages. Agents from the fac
tories and export firms Of Seville and
Lisbon 60 through the villages each
year, buying up enormous quantities
Of Cut corks Of all sizes and qualities.
They are sorted In the cities and done
up in bales for expectation.
Clerks vi. y SO much in quality that
the price runs all the way from two
cents to SIS a gross. Much of the finest
bark Is turned Into shoppers for medi.
cine bottles.
Cork trees are raised from seed usual,
ly, the large and sweet acorns produc.
ing the biggest trees and the finest cork.
Small and Bitter acorns produce coarse
and inferior trees. The bark product
Of a full-grown tree is about eighteen
pounds, worth five cents a pound. The
cork of commerce Is not a natural prod.
uct of the tree, but an abnormal devel.
opment Of the bark under certain treat.
Natural cork is useless for pur.
noses of manufacture, being too coarse.
Sometimes 1t Is so woody and dense
that 1t will not float. The wild cork,
or outer layer of the natural bark. is re.
moved when the tree reaches a diam
eter Of six inches or SO, leaving the in,
terror denser and softer cork layer. The
after is called 'lard," or "mother cork
and from 1t the cork of commerce de
While the tree is in sap, there
no difficulty in removing the cork
care being taken not to inJure the innel
which. II hurt, would not produce
any more cork in that spot. When the
tree is not more than two feet in cir
,umference, a single vertical cut Il
made and the cork Is taken off in a sin
,le piece, called a cannon" From big
ger trees 1t Is removed In slabs.