. A description and history of vegetable substances, used in the arts, and in domestic economy . kle; for buoys to their anchors; andwhen Camillus was sent to the Capitol, through theTiber, during the siege by the Gauls, he had a life-preserver of cork under his dress. The Cork Oak is indigenous, or at least abundant,in Portugal, Spain, part of the south of France, andItaly; on the opposite coast of the Mediterranean,and the Levant. Spain and Portugal supply thegreater portion of the cork which is consumed inEurope. The cork is the bark which the treepushes outwards, as is common to all trees
. A description and history of vegetable substances, used in the arts, and in domestic economy . kle; for buoys to their anchors; andwhen Camillus was sent to the Capitol, through theTiber, during the siege by the Gauls, he had a life-preserver of cork under his dress. The Cork Oak is indigenous, or at least abundant,in Portugal, Spain, part of the south of France, andItaly; on the opposite coast of the Mediterranean,and the Levant. Spain and Portugal supply thegreater portion of the cork which is consumed inEurope. The cork is the bark which the treepushes outwards, as is common to all trees ; but herethe outer bark is of larger quantity, and is morespeedily renewed. When removed, there is a libei;or inner bark, below it, and from this the cork is re-produced in the course of a few years,—while thetree is said to live longer, and grow more vigorously,than if the cork were not removed. The first timethat the cork is taken oft, is when the tree is aboutfifteen years old. That crop is thin, hard, iuU offissures, and consequently of little value; and the c 14 VEGETABLE Cork Oak—Qnerciis suber. second, which is removed about ten years after, isalso of an inferior qnaUty. After this, the operationis repeated once in eight or ten years, the producebeing greater in quantity, and suj^erior in quahty,each successive time. According to Duhamel, a cork-tree thus barked will live a hundred and fifty months of July and Augtist are those which arechosen for removing the cork. The bark is cleftlongitudinally, at certain intervals, down to thecrown of tlie root, with an axe, of which the handleterminates in a wedge; and a circular incision isthen made from each extremity of tlie longitudinalcuts. The bark is then beaten, to detach it from theliber; and it is lifted up by introducing the wedgedhandle, taking care to leave sufficient of the inner THE CORK OAK. 15 laminsD upon the wood, without which precaution thetree would certainly die. The bark being- th
Size: 1346px × 1856px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthorsoc, bookcentury1800, bookiddescriptionhisto00sociuoft
