Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 21.djvu/651

Rh S E I S E I 625 following the general slope of the surface, which is broken up into several plateaus from 300 to 500 feet in height (highest point, in the north-east, 705 feet, lowest 105), and separated from each other by deep valleys. Most of the plateaus belong to the Brie, a fertile and well-wooded district of a clayey character. In the south-west lies the dry sandy district of the Fontainebleau sandstones. The climate is rather more " continental " than that of Paris, the summers warmer, the winters colder; the annual rainfall does not exceed 16 inches. There is a striking difference between the south of the department, where the famous white grape (chasselas) of Fontainebleau ripens, and the country to the north of the Marne, this river marking pretty exactly the northern limit of the vine. With a total area of 1,417,534 acres, Seine-et-Marne had in 1879 261,074 under wheat, 274,808 under oats, 53,362 under beetroot, 51,130 under vines. Besides these, meslin, rye, barley, pulse, potatoes are the principal crops grown. In 1884 the yield was 6,567,547 bushels of wheat, 231,959 of mesliu, 665,505 of rye, 471,251 of barley, 9,104,254 of oats, 3,035,167 of potatoes, 924,210 tons of beetroot, and 401,427 tons of green fodder (lucerne, clover, sainfoin, &c.). The live stock in 1879 included 40,400 horses, 5190 asses, 522,700 sheep (173,290 superior breed), 101,100 cattle, 16,840 pigs, 3714 goats, and 11,440 beehives (75 tons of honey, 15 of wax). Cereals occupy two-fifths of the department and yield an annual value of 2,400,000, while all other products of the soil do not reach 1,600,000. The wheat and oats of Brie are especially esteemed, as are also the white grapes of Fontainebleau and the roses of Provins (see vol. xix. p. 886). Thousands of the well- known Brie cheeses are manufactured, and large numbers of calves and poultry are reared. The forests (covering a fifth of the surface) are planted with oak, beech, chestnut, hornbeam, birch, wild cherry, linden, willow, poplar, and conifers. Best known and most im- portant is the forest of Fontainebleau, the annual product of which is worth 14,000. Excellent freestone is quarried in the depart- ment, especially in the valley of the Loing, mill-stones at La Ferte- sous-Jouarre ; the Fontainebleau sandstone, used extensively for pavements, gives employment to 300 establishments, and the white sand which is found along with it is in great request for the manu- facture of glass. Along the Marne are numerous plaster-quarries ; lime-kilns occur throughout the department ; and peat is found in the valleys of the Ourcq and the Voulzie. Beds of common clay and porcelain clay supply the potteries of Fontainebleau, and especially those of Montereau, where upwards of 700 hands are employed. Other industrial establishments are the numerous large flour-mills, the sugar-factories, beetroot distilleries, paper-mills (the Marais paper-mill manufactures bank-notes, &c., both for France and foreign markets), saw-mills, foundries, printing works, tanneries, tawing works, glove factories, chemical works, &c. Most of the motive -power used in these establishments is supplied by the streams. The Seine, the Yonne, the Marne, and the Grand Morin are navigable, and, with the canals of the Loing and the Ourcq and those of Chalifert, Cornillon, and Chelles, which cut off the windings of the Marne, form a total waterway of 219 miles. There are 242 miles of railway. With its 348,991 inhabitants in 1881, Seine-et-Marne is in density of population slightly below the aver- age of France. It has 5 arrondissements, 29 cantons, 530 com- munes, forms the diocese of Meaux, belongs to the jurisdiction of the Paris court of appeal, and to the district of the Orleans corps d'armee. Among the places of note in the department, Montereau (7107 inhabitants in 1881), distinguished as Montereau-faut-Yonne because of its situation at the confluence of the Yonne with the Seine, deserves to be mentioned not only for its porcelain manu- facture but also as a great railway station on the route from Paris to Lyons at the junction of the Troyes line, as the scene of the assassination of John the Bold, duke of Burgundy, and as one of the battlefields of Napoleon I. in the campaign of 1814. Its church is an historical monument of the 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. A statue of Napoleon stands between the two bridges. SEINE-ET-OISE, a department of northern France, formed in 1790 of part of the old province of lle-de- France, and traversed from south-east to north-west by the Seine, which is joined by the Oise from the right. Lying between 48 17' and 49 14' N. lat. and 1 27' and 2 37' E. long., it is surrounded by the departments of Seine-et-Marne on the east, Loiret on the south, Eure-et- Loir on the west, Eure on the north-west, and Oise on the i north. It encloses the department of Seine. The Epte on the north-west is almost the only natural boundary of the department. The streams (all belonging to the basin of the Seine) are, on the right the Yeres, the Marne, the Oise, and the Epte, and on the left the Essonne (joined by the Juine, which passes by Etampes), the Orge, the Bievre, and the Mauldre. Seine-et-Oise belongs in part to the tableland of Beauce in the south and to that of Brie in the east. In the centre are the high wooded hills which make the charm of Versailles, Marly, and St Germain. But it is in the north-west, in the Vexin, that the culminating point of 690 feet is reached, while the lowest point, where the Seine leaves the department, is hardly 40 feet above the sea. The mean temperature is 51 Fahr. Of the 1,384,695 acres 912,205 are arable soil, 50,330 meadows, 42,852 vineyards, and 199,864 woods. In 1881 the live stock com- prised 48,540 horses, 5626 asses, 162 mules, 70,600 cattle, 341,600 sheep (wool-clip, 1110 tons), 16,200 pigs, 4500 goats, and 13,500 beehives. Seine-et-Oise is a great agricultural and horticultural department. The crops in 1883 were wheat, 5,817,858 bushels ; meslin, 353,127; rye, 1,034,572; barley, 641,894; oats, 8,705,193 ; buckwheat, 3800 ; potatoes, 6,479,000 ; beetroot for sugar 206,645 tons, and for fodder 237,915 ; colza seed, 415 tons ; hay, 48,242 ; clover,13,505 ; lucerne, 140, 354; sainfoin, 57, 283. Oaks, hornbeams, birch, chestnuts are the prevailing trees in the forests, most of which belong to the state. Building, paving, and mill stones (1978 workmen), lime, plaster, marl, chalk, sand, clay, and peat (along the Essonne) are all found in the department. At Enghien are cold mineral springs, and Forges has a hydropathic establishment, where the town of Paris maintains a hospital for scrofulous children. The most important industrial establishments are the national por- celain factory at Sevres ; the Government powder-mills of Sevran and Bouchet ; the paper-mills and cardboard mills (1570 workmen) of Corbeil (population 6566 in 1881), Etampes (7465), and Pontoise (6675), but by far the largest is at Essonne (4999) ; the flax-spinning mills (6368 spindles), cotton-mills (17,830 spindles), silk-mills (5726), wool -mills (8890) ; the foundries and boat and bridge building yards at Argenteuil (10,167) ; the engineering and railway works at Corbeil, &c. ; the agricultural implement factories at Dourdan (2819); the sugar-refineries with thousands of workmen; distilleries on most of the large farms ; starch-works, laundries, large printing establishments close to Paris ; factories for chemical products, candles, embroidery, hosiery, perfumery, shoes, and buttons ; one of the finest zinc -works in France; saw- mills, &c. Besides the navigation of the Seine, the Marne, the Oise, and the Canal d'Ourcq, the department has 420 miles of railroad, 457 of national roads, and 3958 of other roads. The population of the department in 1881 was 577,798 inhabitants (one and a half times the average density of the French departments). There are 6 arrondissements, 37 cantons, and 686 communes ; the department forms the diocese of Versailles, is divided between the corps d'armee of Amiens, Rouen, Le Mans, and Orleans, and has its court of appeal at Paris. The commune of Argenteuil (11,849 inhabitants) is not only important for its manufactures but also for its market gardens (asparagus, figs, grapes, &c.)j and its church, rebuilt in the 19th century in the Romanesque style, is a fashionable place of pilgrimage. SEINE INFERIEURE, a department of the north of France, formed in 1790 of four districts (Norman Vexin, Bray, Caux, and Roumois) belonging to the province of Normandy. Lying between 49 15' and 50 4' N. lat. and 1 52' and 4' E. long., it is bounded N.W. and N. by the English Channel for a distance of 80 miles, N.E. by Somme, from which it is separated by the Bresle, E. by Oise, S. by Eure and the estuary of the Seine, which separates the department from Calvados. It is divided almost equally between the basin of the Seine in the south and the basins of certain coast streams in the north. The Seine receives from the right hand before it reaches the department the Epte and the Andelle from the Bray dis- trict, and then the Darnetal, the Cailly, the Austreberte, the Bolbec, and the Lezarde. The main coast streams are the Bresle (which forms the ports of Eu and Treport), the Yeres, the Arques or Dieppe stream (formed by the junction of the Varennes, the Bethune, and the Eaulne), the Scie, the Saane, the Durdent. As a whole the department may be described as an elevated plateau culminating towards the east in a point 807 feet above the sea and terminating along the Seine in high bluffs and towards the sea in steep chalk cliffs 300 to 400 feet high, which are continually being eaten away and transformed into beds of shingle. There is no striking line of parting between the basins of XXI. 79