Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1921-10-21
is BARREN LAND
correze About the Poorest Sec
ton of France.
Has, However, Wealth of chestnuts
Which the inhabitants Turn to
Good Account.

COrreze, another ''place where the
nuts come FROM" is the subject of
National Geographic society bulletin
in connection with the reported anx-
iety of that department of France
because a schedule in the new tariff
doubles the duty on cheStnuts.
"a region of chestnuts, walnuts and
cider apples may suggest land of
perpetual Halloween" continues the
bulletin. but, in reality, the depart
ment of Correze, in south central
France, is a place where the struggle
for existence has developed serious,
sturdy, grim type of peasantry.
1.-THE infrequent visitor to the basin
of the Garonne will find families
whose diet, in winter, consists largely
OF chestnuts and potatoes and goat
cheese-who eat their simple repasr
off tables with depressions followed
from the wood to serve as plates, and
have gravel floors in their tiny cot
tages. He may encounter inns, with
their invariable menus Of veal, buck
wheat cakes and potatoes, where he is
supposed to furnish his own knife,
custom surviving from not more than
"A century ago when the guest of a
province hostelry was expected to car
ry his own cutlery.
but if this visitor thinks primitive
conditions connote a backward people
he will be as much surprised as many
city-bred recruit in the American
eXpeditiOnary forces who took the lit
eracy of a southern mountaineer to
be measure of his intelligence.
"Correze has an area nearly equal
to that of cur own state of Delaware.
1t lies along the western edge of the
great central plateau of France. 1t
is corrugated with valleys, ravines
and gorges. 'Moors, heaths and
bracken' are words most needed in
descriptions Of its landscapes. Groves
of chestnut trees, white birches and
of gaunt New England scene. Only
In an occasional valley Is the soil fer
tile. Scattered over this department
are about as many people as live in
| Indianapolis.
"The sons of Correze who rubbed
elbows with allied soldiers on the
western front may have brought back
news of the trade opportunities which
lurked in the. outside world. Per-
haps that is why Correze farmers
awoke to the fact that chestnuts they
formerly gathered against the lean
winter might have higher value in
exchange. Anyway, they found their
way to the channels of American ex-
ports and Correze citizens now are
reported to be greatly disturbed at the
proposed tariff barrier.
Chestnut gathering, rather than a
savings account, represents the start
ing point of many home in Correze.
Communes usually owned the land
about them, and gave citizens legal
title to tracts they cleared and cult
waited. But it takes three or four years
| to produce a crop, and in the mean
time many a young man has found his
economic salvation. in nut gathering.
| Mushrooms which abound under the
chestnut trees, afford another edible.
1NOL Ouiy 10 ills ldiu Hdlu W CiVdl
and till, but the remOter sections
know only the simplest tools. A plow
is made of two poles, joined at an
angle, with the ground end Of the pole
held by the man constituting the plow-
share. Every hamlet has it's church.
To the pedestrian who would tramp
through these parts, and thus get the
full flavor of most interesting en-
vironment, the angelus is bell buoy
for his inland travels from village to
village and The frequent creator of
such scenes OF simple devotion as that
immortalized by Millet.
''Tulle, with a population Of fewer
than $4,000, Is the capital and prin-
cipal city Of Correze. Quaint houses
line the streets of steps which ascend
the slopes along the valley Of the
River Correze, on which Tulle is sit
uated. Near the city are the beauti-
full Gimel falls. Ia 1t is a firearms
factory"