PREFACE THIS monograph is not an attempt to put before the reading public a scientific exposition of the merits and qualities of the Quercus Suber or Quercus Liber Linneus, and carry it up into the heights of learning where none but the learned may go but to set forth in as concise a manner as possible, the plain story of the corkwood stopper so well known to all. The corkwood as seen in the stopper and in many other articles of trade, has long been of service to man, and remained unnoticed in journals of science, but for a word here and there and in trying to acquaint myself with its gener- alities, found it most difficult to get even these. This rather impressed me as being singular, a material so largely used and so little to its credit, in literature, that I pressed my investigations only to find that the farther I searched the less I found. The few facts gleaned were of interest, and it occurred to me to put them together in some readable form, for future reference. But as I re- flected upon the unsuccessful attempt to get infor- mation, which was made in behalf of my studies, I promptly decided to go into the subject deep enough to cover all the facts and the result is this monograph Quercus Suber It is presented with the hope that it will help others who seek a knowledge of corkwood and is only intended as a resume of a very interesting sub- ject. I have endeavored to give credit to those to whom it is due and offer my results as a tribute to a material that stands in a class worthy of 4Jie scientists as well as the commercialists esteem. June 15, 1914. G. E. STECHER. CONTENTS QUERCUS SURER Cork PAGE 3 QUERCUS LIBER Linnaeus 5 CORK 7 ORIGIN 9 Including the territory of growth and attempts to transplant the seed. THE TREE AND GROWTH 12 DISEASES 16 STRIPPING 17 BOTANY AND CHEMISTRY 22 Including compression diagram. USES AND APPLICATION 39 SUBSTITUTES 53 MANUFACTURE 55 Raw stock. Sorting. Stopper making. Cork Disc making. Waste utilization. EXTENT OF THE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY .... 71 APPENDIX 76 CORK Its Origin and Industrial Uses X CORK Its Origin and Industrial Uses QUERCUS SURER CORK THE material of which this monograph treats has become of double interest because of its shrouded mystery, which has never been pierced to the extent of giving the world a complete and comprehensive story. The mysticism does not encompass its utility and general uses nor its native land, as these are well known, but is more associated with its character, composition and chemical makeup. Its uses may be traced far back into the misty past that is dim to us, but from the faint scroll of history looms up in the minds eye as an epoch that we may have been glad to know, and although the references are few, by carefully analyzing them we may glean somewhat of its lineage.