Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1890-03-12
BRITTANY SALT MARSH,
bow 1t Flowers and How the Peasant
Reaps the Harvest.

doW 1t Flowers and How the Peasant
Reaps the Harvest.
Nothing is more easy to describe than
salt-marsh. Imagine market-garden
divided into squares, filled with water,
and the walks not level with, but raised
above the spaces about ten inches in
height. These are filled with sea-water,
which pours in through conduits at high
tide, the water having been stored dur
ing period of from fifteen to thirty
days in reservoirs attached to each
marsh. The system of canals through
which it passes is of complicated nature,
and the production of the salt consti-
tutes, so to speak, special branch of
agriculture, where the visible help OF
man assists the hidden work of nature.
The ground must be dug and arranged
In particular manner, that the saline
PARTICLES may crystalize, just as field
where wheat grows and ripens. Thus;
1T is not surprising that the salt-workers
adopt the professional terms of the farm
ers. At certain times they say: The
marsh is in flowers" they speak of the
harvest" and of ''reaping the SALT
1t is in the @illet, where the water is
only about an inch in depth, that the
salt forms, thanks to the evaporation of
the sun and to the current which, slow
ly circulating through the different
compartments, assists the evaporation.
The salt which then falls to the bottom
of the basin is ral1ed out by the paludier
into round hollows made at the edge at
certain distances. This is done every
one or two days. The art consists in
raking up all the salt without drawing
the mud with it. In the salt marsh OF
Guerande they collect separately white
salt, which forms on the surface under
the appearance of foam and is used for
the sailing Of sardines.
1t will easily be understood that every
thing depends on the sky; above all
things, the heat of the solar rays in
necessary. In cloudy weather there is
no capitalization Rainy seasons are
most disastrous for the paludiers.
The harvest varies from year to
year. Calculating the produce for
ten years, it amounts to three
thousand or four thousand pounds of
salt in each aillet. Work begins in the
month of June and is carried on till Oc-
tOber. The number of 8illets varies
with the size of the marsh: that of
Guerande contains about twenty four
thousand; others are much less. The
gathered salt is carried daily to some
slope near and packed in a conical form.
very much resembling the tents of
camp when seen from distance. Al
Guerande the women are seen running
in this direction, carrying the salt on
their heads in large wooden bowls hold
ing about fifty pounds, while at Bourg-
neuf the men are employed, who make
use OF willow baskets borne on the shout
der. If the salt is sold Immediately the
cone is only covered with a little earth.
But it more frequently happens that
when the harvest is good spectators
buy large quantities to keep until the
price rises, and then large masses one
thousand pounds in weight are formed
and protected by thick layer of earth.
Like all kinds Of property in France,
the salt-marshes are much divided.
More than three thousand proprietors
share that of Guerande; and there is
kind of cooperative partnership be-
tween the owner and the worker,
the latter generally receiving quarter
of the profits, out of which he pays the
porters. The gain is, however, miser-
ably small; and the wonder is how the
various families manage to exist upon
it. Even if the wife and daughter help,
the whole family only earn about 255
francs year-$S50 of our money; and, in
consequence of the season when salt is
collected, the plaudier has no chance of
increasing his income by assisting the
farmers, and can on4y employ himself
in the trifing labors of winter. So low,
indeed, have the profits sunk in some
marshes the expenses have exceeded
them; in short. there is no kind of prop
erty in France that has for the last
century undergone more terrible re-
verses than this. These changes are
partly due to the railways, which have
provided much more efficient and rap
id means of transportation for the east
of France than for the west.-Ballous
Monthly.