The Coolidge examiner., 1936-01-17

SchWarZWald is in an entirely diff
ferent category. Bordering the
streams the slopes are steep, tim
ber-covered, and not conducive to
agriculture.
The fiatter uplands, as in our
own New England states, were
once ice covered and are cOnSe-
quently stony and not highly pro-
ductive. That the land was not
capable of supporting a large pop
ulati0n was early recognized by
a law prohibiting the splitting up
of farms among the descendants of
their owners. In those days the
land used to and still does go down
to a single owner, leaving the rest
of the family to shift for them
selves.
Famous for Its Industries.
Soon the surplus population,
scenting a market for foodstuffs as
well as for labor, settled about the
mOnaSterieS in SWarmS, and the
monks found themselves saddled
with an unemployment problem,
which they solved so successfully
that in time Schwarzwald indus
tries became famous.
The occurrence of timber and
abundant clean sand started the
glass industry. During the Age of
Discovery the manufacture of glass
for barter with the American Indi-
ans famed this industry to fever
heat.
The exploitation of silver lead
veins opened up a mining district
which was once important and
which was worked until a few
years ago.
Water power led tc gem-cutting
The house occupied by the Guild
of Gem Cutters still stands, and
when Marie Antoinette passed
through Freiburg on her way to
France to marry the Dauphin, the
burghers presented her with a thou
sand cut garnets. Today in nearby
Waldkirch is large gem-cutting
establishment. This same water
power has been used for nearly POO
years to run Freiburg's silk-thread
mills.
Forests made numbering, clock
making (Schwarzwald clocks have
wooden wheels), and woodcarving
possible. Even in the Middle ages
Schwarzwald timber drivers deliv-
cred their log RATS as far away
as Rotterdam.
Sheep led to hat making and
weaving, willows to baSket-making
and the Schwarzwald peddler, car
rying hats and cloth, baskets and
clocks, glassware and silver Orna-
ments, was known at every door in
Europe.
Even now handwOrk goes quietly
along on a small scale in the for
est, as if there had been no indus
trial revolution. In their own
houses, men and women make
clocks and music boxes and furni-
ture, as we'll as funny little wooden
toys that delight the heart of the
most blase and hardened child.
They weave, too, and stamp the
cloth with wOOden-block patterns,
some of which have been in the
same families for generations. One
sees pieces of linen blocked with
alarmingly realistic scenes from the
Resurrection, and tableclOths, used
only at Christmas, on which the
whole lovely Christmas tale - In
FAINT, Shepherds, Wise Men, camels
and everything - is all hand
blocked.
Vineyards in the City.
The monks also planted the first
known vineyards of the district. AS
far back as the Eighth century
there are vague accounts of grape
growing and wine-malling in Breis-
gau, but the earliest official record
of such activities comes from the
Holy Ghost hospital in the middle
of the Thirteenth century.
The most distinctive note of the
Freiburg wine industry is that some
of the vineyards are actually a
part of the city. In COlombi park,
almost the center of town, the sun
ny slopes are thriftily planted with
vines that yield a particularly deli