The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1902-09-21
) Havre, the American Gateway to France.


OF India and Egypt The custom officers
were sampling the bales while | passed
through the cotton wharves. They OPEN
ed each bale and took out bundle in
order to assess the duty upon it. They
did their work well. but 1t seemed to me
that the amount of cotton removed was
unnecessarily large.
The Big Horses Of France.
The hauling of the cotton from one
mart of the wharves to another is done
nv Percheron horses, finer than any
horses employed about the wharves of
Nav York 1 saw one hauling fifteen
cotton bales which must have weighed
en- the average 500 pounds each. and L
md that the usual French load for ore
horse is from three to five tons. In tine
country one morse is expected to haul
at least three tons, and this is so through
ont North France. The horses are we'll
kent and are apparently no worse for
such loads. They compare favorabiy
with the Clydesdale and Shire horses
which I described in my letters from
Liverpool, and they will haul about as
large loads. The streets along the HaVre
docks are paved with cobbles. and as
far as l can see they are no better than
similar streets in New York. In the
country the TOduS al &c ~"
can drive for hundreds of miles and not
find a rough place, so that the horses can
haul great loads.
Nearly all the hauling here is done
upon one-horse carts. If there is
second horse 1t goes in front of the one
In the shafts. three and four-horse teams
sometimes being so hitched up tandem.
The carts have fiat beds about fifteen
feet long, with shafts about half the
thickness of telegraph poles. The shafts
are on hinges, and the loads are raised
and lowered by means of windlass
where the shafts Join and on the left of
the cart. This windlass also binds ropes
about the loads to hold them on. The
wheels are about as high as the hind
wheels of farm wagon. and the aver
age cart itself will weigh, 1 should think.
about a ton. All weights are estimated
in Kilograms, and | was shown loads
which / was told weighed as much as
5000 Kilograms hauled by one horse. 1t
is roughly estimated that I,ooo kllo-
grams equal one ton.
Se.ns Queer American Exports.
Among the curious exports l see here
are dried apples from New York and
corn oil cake from Chicago. The dried
apples are used for making French cider
and are brought here from America for
that nurpose France takes something
like II, 900, 900 pounds ofsuch apples every
year.
The cider made from them Is sold
at all the restaurants and cafes. 1t
costs but a few cents a glass, and 1t
is better than any hard cider have
ever tasted in the United States The
corn oil cake is a refuse of our Indian
corn after the oil has been squeezed out
of it. 1t Is used for feeding. as Is also
American cottonseed meal and oil cake.
The corn cake I saw came from Chi
cago. g.
Another Of our queer exports which is
now coming to Hayre is Camembert
cheese This Is surprising to the French'
for they consider this cheese one of their
snecialties, and 1t is only within few
miles of this port that the most of their
product Is made.
Points for American Lumber Men.
Havre is one of the largest wood mar
kets of Europe. saw vast quantities OF
wood during my. trip about the wharves.
From one ship they were discharging
mahogany logs about thirty feet long
and two feet square, and from another
thew were taking off vast quantities OF
logwood for use IN the dye factories OF
France II saw considerable American
oak and pine and Consul Thackara tells
me that such shipments might be great
ly incre ased IL our people were more
careful In their saving. The French Gus
toms laws permit the free entry for
cabinet making of wood which is eight
inches or more IN thickness. Owing to
our poor saving tho American wood
often arrives a shade under this size,
and the man who orders 1t has to pay
the duty. The result is he stops at one