Show ABOUT CORK how it in nna con into warf how many processes blocs aliis in cresting article pass from tho timo it leaves tho parental tree until with a sharp report it emerges from a soda bottlo in in aerial flight toward tho ceilings ceiling 1 asked a reporter of a cork manufacturer As you doubtless know h answered the cork oak grows in spain and portugal which countries supply the world with cork tho arco is successfully cultivated for its bark and grows froni twenty to forty fact in height the outer bark tho external layers of spongy cellular tissue which is stripped off for market a year or two before it would crack from distension and bo thrown off naturally in dirgo flakes 13 what is used and this having mainly lost its true vitality is a burden to the tree so that its proper removal is beneficial the trees at the ago of from to live years leavo a fungus appearance on account of the rough and cracked condition of alic dark surfaces of trunk and branch the bark of young brcci is useless or of inferior after tho third peeling it is suitable it at intervals ot sir or eight yerra and lie trees continue to yield ark for upward of ono hundred and fity years the bark is taken off by making incisions upward and transversely and by u sing a two handled circular knife then alio slabs hrc soaked heated on tho convex to remove the natural curvature pressed flat charred to remove decayed parts and conceal blemishes axt they are packed for market tho slabs como in of from to 2 inches and aro sometimes 4 by 2 feet in size tho older the arco the bettor and finer the quality of tho cork its cost ranging from five to twenty civo cents per pound the slabs aro softened by being tor a short time in boxes and are then cut into different sized strips from which innumerable sizes of corks are cut from a quarter of an inch in diameter at tho top to the largest flat cork druggists Drugg ista corks of fino quality some from old trees are thin and close grained and are used mostly for flat corks and for druggists kinli tha sues are mainly standard and there i no end to them corks were formerly cut entirely by hand the knives being frequently sharpened because of the i curious fact that tho soft bark dulls a tool more rapidly than metals the corks aro now cutout by revolving knives and tapered by liand cork is expensive but the wa sto is as tho unused parta can be utilized for making spanish black burnt cork pasti for minstrels etc thoro are two cork factories in chicago and numerous wholesalers while tho manufacture is extensive la tho east saying nothing about cork legs floats insole tw chicago aws |