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      THE CORK-CUTTER.
   Tiiis is a very simple employment,
as the Cork-cutter has only to cut the
bark which is stripped from the cork-
tree, into a variety of large and small
round pieces for the purpose of stopping
casks, bottles, phials, &c. His chief in-
strument is a sharp knife, and his great
care is not to cut his fingers.  He va-
ries the sizes, some casks requiring very
large ones, as well as some bottles.-
The corks for bottles must bq long and
sloping, in order to be driven in; those
for casks are not long, but broad and
cylindrical; and are forced in with a
hammer. The corks for phials are small
but of -different sizes; these are conti-
nually wanted at apothecaries' shops.
   The cork-tree is a species of oak,
but of a pliable nature: it grows thirty
or forty feet high, having a thick, rough,
and fungous bark. The bark is taken
off by making an incision from the top
to the bottom, and likewise one at each
extremitv round the tree. The tree still
lives, and in about six years a succeed-
ing bark being again fit for use, it un-
dergoes the same curious operation for
removing, the cork or coating of the tree.