The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1923-01-18
IS BARREN Land
Correze About the Poorest Sec
ton of France.
Has, However, a Wealth Of Chsstnuts
Which the Inhabitants Turn to
Good Account.

C0rreze. anOtner place where lnt
nuts come FROM is the subject ef
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 a 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 a 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 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 i%nvarIable menus Of veal, buck
wheat cakes and potatoes, where he Is
supposed TO furnish his own knife, a
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
a city-bred recruit in the American
expeditionary forces who took the lit
eracy of a southern mountaineer to
be a measure Of his intelligence.
"COrreze has an area nearly equal
to that of our 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 it's landscapes. Groves
of. chestnut trees, white birches and
walnut trees often give a 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.
1.-THE 0 of Correze who rubbed
with allied soldiers on the
western front may have brought back
news of the trade opportunities which
in the outside world. Per
haps that is why Correze farmers
awoke to the fact that chestnuts they
formerly gathered against the lean
might have a 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-theI
proposed tariff barrier.
Chestnut gathering, rather than a
account, represents the start
ng point of many a home in Correze.
Jommunes usually owned the land
about them, and gave citizens legal
title to tracts they cleared and culti-
7ated. But it takes three or four years
o produce a crop, and in the mean
ime many a young man has found his
economic salvation in nut gathering.
Mushrooms, which abound under the
hestnut trees, afford another edible.
mot only is this land hard to clear
nd till, but the remoter sections
now only the simplest tools. A pillow
made Of TWO poles, joined at an
ngle, with the ground end Of the pole
cid by the man constituting the plow-
Every hamlet has It's church.
% the pedestrian who would tramp
these parts, and thus get the
I'LL flavor of a most interesting en-
ironment, the angelus is a bell buoy
his inland travels from village to
illage and the frequent creator of
UGH scenes of simple devotion as that
nmortallzed by Millet.
"Tulle, with a population of fewer
$4,000, Is the capital and prin-
ipal city Of Correze. Quaint houses
ne the streets of steps which ascend
lie slopes along the valley of the
liver Correze, on which Tulle Is sit
ated. Near the city are the beauti-
IL Gimel falls. In it is a firearms