Martinsburg journal. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1920-1977, 1921-09-14
FRENCH CHESTNUTS
COMPETE WITH u. S,
Natives Of Correze Are Not
Rivals.

Correze, another place where the
nuts come from" is the subject of
a National Geographic Society bulle-
tin in connection with the reported
anxiety of that Department Of
France because a schedule in the
new tariff doubles the duty on chest
nuts.
"a region Of chestnuts, walnuts
and cider apples may suggeBt a
land of perpetual halloween" con-
tinues the bulletin. But, in real
ity, the Department Of COrreze, in
south control 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, con
sists largely Of chestnuts and pota-
toes and goat cheese,-whO eat their
simple repast off tables with de-
pressions followed from the wood to
serve as plates, and have gravel
floors in their tiny cottages. He
may encounter inns, with their In
variable menus OF veal, buckWheat
cakes and potatoes, where he is sup
posed to furnish his own knife, q
custom surviving from not more
than a century ago when the guest
OF a Provence hosiery was expect
ed to carry his own cutlery.
But if this visitor thinks primi-
tive conditions connote a backward
people he will be as much surprised
as many a city-bred recruit in the
A. e. F. who took the literacy of a
southern mountaineer to be meas
ure of his intelligence
"CorTeze has an area nearly equal
to that of our own state of Della
ware. 1t lies along the western edge
Of the great central plateau of
France. 1t is corrugated with val
leys, rayines and gorges. 'Moors,
heaths and bracken' are words most
needed in descriptions of its land
scapes. Groves Of chestnut trees,
white birches, and walnut trees ct
en- give a suggestion If a gaunt
New England scene. Only in an oc.
casiOnal valley is the soil fertile.
Scattered over this Department are
about as many people as live in In
dianapolis.
THE sons of Correze who rubbed
elbows with Allied soldiers on the
Western Front may have brought
back news of the trade opportuni-
ties which lurked in the outside
world Perhaps that is why Correze
farmers awoke to the fact that
chestnuts they formerly gathered
against the lean. winter might have
a highe ryalue in exchange Any
way they found their way to the
channels of American exports and
Correza citizens now are reported
TO be greatly disturbed at the pro-
posed tariff barrier.
chestnut gathering, rather than a
/ savings account, represents the
1 starting point of many a home in
/ COrreze. COmmunes usually owned
the land about them, and gave citi-
zens legal title to tracts they clear
ed and cultivated. But it takes three
or four years to produce a crop and,
in the meantime, many young man
has found his economic salvation in
nut gathering Mushrooms which
abound under the chestnut trees, at
ford another edible.
mot only is this land hard to
clear and till, but the remoter sec
lions 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 con-
stituting the plow share. Every
/ hamlet has its church. To the Pc
desh'ian who would tramp through