Bottle rye straw making workshops in the department of Landes

Resistances and per- manences of this industry with regard to its socio-economic integration (1870-1950)

Abstract

The manufacture of bottle paillons is a singular industry in the Landes countryside. Made from rye straw, these products are then sent to the wine centres of the Bordeaux or Cognac region, sometimes further away, where they are intended for the protection of bottles, thus preserving the precious goods they contain during various handling operations and their transport. Production, which is not very mechanized, is carried out in small workshops scattered in rural areas. It lasted until the 1950s with an astonishing stability both in its modes of production and in the social composition of its workers. By focusing on the workshop and the social actors who animate it, this article allows to understand in part the springs of this sustainability. It is also by revealing the very strong and close links between the nature of these small businesses and the rural world in which they operate that the industrial relations within the company and the permanence of this industry are understood.