The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1896-03-20
THE JE " s H.ARP.

Ihe name Jew sharp Is undoubtedly
a misnomer, If it is intended to indi-
cate any right of origin with the Sem
ltic race. Hebrew boys probably, Ike
boys of other nationallties, have found
delight in the twang of this little in
strument, but it can not easily be
shown that its hereditv attaches to
any generation of this race.
According to the best invts igation.
The name has descended from the
French word .je", a toy, and is NAL
formation from the French jeu-rompe,
a toy trumpet, the change of jeu INTO
jeus being by no means of recent date.
However it comes bv its name, it is
an old invention. One Pratorius.
away back in 1919, wrote a word en-
titled ''Organographia, and in it he
gives this little instrument the name
scr. m Jalum.'
There is small town, Riva, up in
the mountains Of the Italian Tyrol,
which is said to have manufactured
the best ]ews-harps, and the first noted
performer on this instrument was
named Koch, Prussian soldier in thu
army of Frederic the Great. Ia later
times kanert, Anstein, and some others
made celebrity for themselves by
using variety Of jew -harps of diffe-
rent tones. Their performances were
so remarkable that, like musical artists
of our own day, they travelled about
Europe giving public concerts with
great success.
Bnt it was left for Karl Ecclenstein
in the early part of this century to
lift the jew's-harp above the level of
Il simple toy, and, by developing its
resources, established it on a higher
plane. Its very limited scale of tone
had to be obviated, and this he accom-
plished by means Of a series of harps
of various sizes.
WHERE CORK CONES FROM.
Since you asked about cork | have
been looking up the subject and have
found some very interesting facts.
That travelled bird Of yours who SAID
it came from a kind Of oak tree was
right; it is an evergreen oak that bot
anists call Quercus suber. The tree
is only about thirty feet high, and is
principally cultivated in SPAN, al
though it also grows IN Africa and in
other parts Of southern Europe.
When it is fifteen or twenty years old
the first stripping of bark is made:
only the outer layer is taken, the work
ers being very careful to leave the in
ner bark uninjured. This fist layer
Is rough and woody, Of no use save in
tanning; but ten years later another
has been formed Of finer quality, and
the quality continues to improve after
each stripping.
The bark is taken in midsummei:
two cuts are made around the trunk,
one near the ground, the other ust
under the branches; then, after max
ing three or four long Sits down the
tree, the layer of cork is loosened 10y
a wedge-shaped instrument aud taken
off in strips. These are scraped and
cleaned on the outside and then heat
ed and pressed flat.
Until quite recently great difficulty
was found in cutting out the corks,
as most of the work was done by hand j,
and the knives were so quickly dulled;
but now machine is in use which
saves great deal of that trouble. If
any of your congregation will look at
the rough bark Of some of our native
oaks, and try to cut in through the
tough outer layer of corky wood, some
times nearly two inches think, 1t will
be easy enough for them to understand
how another tree Of the same genus
can produce the thickest coating-the
cork of commerce.