GENERAL.

Bush Advocate, Volume XVI, Issue 582, 5 December 1904, Page 6

GENERAL.

■* ■ ■i/ESTRUCTTON OF THE CORK FOR-

ESTS OF ITALY.

The cork industry, which is quite an important one, will receive a fresh impetus, says tbe Scientific American, a new process having been discovered by which large pieces can be made out of small ones, so that cork waste can be utilised in large quantities. This is all the more important as the price of cork increases steadily, both on account of the growing demand and the lessened supply of the raw mat-

erial.

Formerly Italy was a large producer of cork,'; but a great part of her splendid cork-oak forests has already been destroyed; In some provinces— as, for instance, in Calabria — the trees have been felled and iised for charcoal making. In other provinces they have been cut down on account of their high potash contents.

Larger forests' of cork-oak trees afe still existing in Spain, Portugal, Brance, Algeria and Tunis. None are found in Asia Minor, and only rarely in Greece and EuroV pean Turkey, although the climates seem to 'be favourable for, their growth. The area covered by these forests is estimated at 300,000 hectares (741,300 acres) in Portugal, 250,000 hectares (617,750 acres) in Spain,. 280. hectares, (691,880 acres) in Al;geria, a^d only 80,000 hectares (19.7,750 acres) remain in Italy.

While Spain still furnishes 32,800 tons of coTk -annually, the production of Italyhas decreased to 4000 tons. 'The' value of the Spanish exports of cork amounts to 6,000,000 dollars per year; against less than 250,000 dollars for. ltaly. Only Sicily and Sardinia are still producing cork ih any considerable extent in Italy, while the former great oak- forests' of Calabria are almost destroyed. It seems incomprehensible that this destruction has been permitted. The trees easily reach an .age of 200 -years. They yield cork in. their thirtieth yeax, and' continue to do so every seven years. Seventy-five years ago the English demand for cork was supplied exclusively from Italy. The destruction of the remaining 1 forests goes on uninterruptedly, and nobody seems to try to prevent it or to plant new forests, in Bpite of the fact -that Italy possesses the most favourable climate and soil for the cork oak, the most favourable conditions for its growth being found in tbe volcanic soil of. the peninsula. ' - --