In the Province of Gerona is included a large territory stretching northward towards the Pyrenees to the Valley of the Muge and Ter. In France, according to Consul Goldschmidt of Nantes, the cork-producing territory is divided as follows: Var, 280 acres; Lot-et-Garonne, 27 acres; Landes, 32 acres; Corsica, 40 acres; making about 379 acres in all. This résumé of the cork-producing countries of Europe will convey some idea of the extent of the forests, and will also show the climate sort by the tree; for it is proven that it flourishes best in an altitude of 1600 to 3000 feet, in an average mean temperature of 55° Fahrenheit; and at points beyond 45° north latitude its successful propagation is doubtful. The Mediterranean Basin is particularly suitable for the rearing of corkwood, and although many attempts have been made to transplant the seed, the results have proven fatal. Notable among these attempts being the American ambition to introduce the tree in the United States. Portuguese acorns were brought to Wayne County, Mississippi, and planted in 1859; the result, as far as the growth was concerned, was splendid; but after a wait of eleven years, the final crop was not a commercial success. Another attempt was made in 1872, in southern California, but with no better outcome than the first, in which some of the trees attained to a height of thirteen feet (3.965 meters) and the stem, to a diameter of eleven inches (2.794 decimeters), including the cork, which attained a thickness of one inch (2.540 centimeters). This evidently rapid growth would infer that the American zone was all that could be desired for the favorable rearing of cork trees; but strange to say this was not the case. Although the growth of the tree had been exceptionally strong, the quality of its salient product turned out to be of an inferior character. The cork generally improves with the age of the tree; in this instance, however, even after years of maturity the cork harvest did not improve to any great extent, and indeed is still of a second-rate quality.[9] And Consul S. C. Reat, writing from Tamsui, recently reports the efforts of the Japanese Government to plant cork trees in Formosa and the Ogasawara Isles, in the endeavor to supply small corks to the Japanese merchants, the result of which, is yet to be learned. [9] _Chambers Journal._ THE TREE AND GROWTH Many botanists consider the cork oak of Europe as belonging to two species, one chiefly characterized by annual fructification and the persistence of the leaves for two or three years (Quercus Suber, Linnæus); the other by biennial fructification and annual persistence of the leaves (Quercus Occidentalis, Gay).[10] [10] _Garden and Forest_, Vol. VIII, 52.