Cover image for

Scientific American Supplement, No. 711

Subtitle August 17, 1889
Categories Science, Periodical
Language English
Published 1889
Word count 40,727
Excerpt

ve warehouses for the storing of cork wood and machinery for the manufacture of bottle corks have recently been established at the Spanish lines, about a mile distant from this fortress, in Spanish territory, where large quantities of cork have already been stored. The cork is obtained and collected from the valuable trees, which are owned by the representatives of some of the oldest nobility of Spain, who have sold the products of their extensive woods to private individuals for periods reaching as far on as ten years, for which concession large cash advances have already been made. The woods commence at a distance of about twelve miles from Gibraltar, and are of considerable extent.

The railway now in course of construction passes through these woods, which may ere long offer quite picturesque scenery for travelers, especially when the cork trees are bearing acorns, which form the principal food for the fattening of large herds of swine during certain seasons of the year, in this way, also, contributing