News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1922-01-11
is BARREN LAND
Correze About the Poorest Sec
ton of France.
Has, However, a Wealth of chestnuts
Which the Inhabtants Turn to
Good account.

-Correze, another place where the
nuts come from" is the subject of u
National Geographic society bulletin
in connection with the reported anx-
iety Of that department of France
because schedule in the new tariff
doubles the duty on chestnuts.
"A region Of chestnuts, walnuts and
cider apples may suggest a land of
perpetual Halloween" continues the
bulletin. But, in reality, the depart
ment Of Correze, in south central
France, is place where the struggle
for existence has developed serious,
sturdy, grim type of peasantry.
The infrequent visitor to the basin
Of the Garonne will find families
whose diet, in winter, consists largely
Of chestnuts and potatoes ana goat
cheese-WhO eat their simple repasJ
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
'AAS'th SS'hNS anu IIClttIOCS, hIClC llC ID
supposed to furnish his own knife a
custom surviving from not more than
a century ago when the guest of a
province hosiery was expected to car
ry his own cutlery.
But if this visitor thinks primitive
conditions cOnnote backward people
he will be as much surprised as many
city-bred recruit in the American
eXpeditionary forces who took the lit
eracy of southern mountaineer to
be measure of his intelligence.
"Correze has an area nearly equal
to that of our own state of Delaware.
II 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
walnut trees often give suggestion
of a 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 q higher value in |
exchange. Anyway, they found their
way to the channels of American ex-
ports and Correze citizens now are |
to be greatly disturbed at the |
tariff barrier.
Chestnut gathering rather than a
ng point Of many home in Correze.
COmmunes usually owned the land |
about them, and gave citizens legal
title to tracts they cleared and cult
1ated. But it takes three or four years
o produce crop, and in the mean
line many young man has found his
salvation in nut gathering
which abound under the
chestnut trees, afford another edible.
"Not only is this land hard to clear
md TILL but the remoter sections
Know only the simplest tools. A pillow
S made of two poles, Joined at an
lngle, with the ground end of the pole
leld by the man constituting the plow-
hare. Every hamlet has its church.
70 the pedestrian who would tramp
Trough these parts, and thus get the
ull flavor of a most interesting en-
'ironment, the angelus is a bell buoy
or his inland travels from village to
illage and the frequent creator of {
UGH scenes of simple devotion as that
by Millet.
"Tulle, with a population of fewer
han 10000, is the capital and prin-
ipal city Of Correze. Quaint houses
me the streets of steps which ascend
he slopes along the valley of the
liver COrreZe, on which Tulle is sit !
ated Near the city are the beauti- e
III Gimel falls. In it is a firearms
a ctOrv