LOIR-ET-CHER, a department of central France, consists of a small portion of Touraine, but chiefly of portions of Orléanais proper, Blésois, and Dunois, districts which themselves formerly belonged to Orléanais. It lies between 47° 11' and 48° 8' N. lat. and between 0° 35' and 2° 15' E. long., and is bounded on the N. by Eure-et-Loir, on the N.E. by Loiret, on the S.E. by Cher, on the S. by Indre, on the S.W. by Indre-et-Loire, and on the N.W. by Sarthe, the greatest length (north-west to south-east) being 78 miles, maximum breadth 31 miles, and the area 2452 miles. Its name is derived from the Loir and the Cher, by which it is traversed in the north and in the south respectively. The Loire divides it into two nearly equal portions, the district on the right of the Loire being known as Beauce, while that on the right of the Loir again is called Perche; on the left of the Loire is Sologne. The surface of Perche is varied, and reaches a maximum height of 840 feet; its woods alternate with hedged fields and orchards, and rapid rivulets water the green valleys. Beauce is a rich agricultural country, where the monotony of the endless fields of corn is broken only by the houses grouped together in villages, or by the stacks which surround them. Sologne was formerly a region of forests, of which that of Chambord is one of the last remains. Its soil, formerly barren and unhealthy, has been considerably improved within recent years. The Cher and Loir traverse pleasant valleys, occasionally bounded by walls of tufa, in which numerous dwellings have been excavated; the stone extracted, after hardening by exposure to the air, has been used for building purposes in the nearer towns. Within the department the Loir has a course of 56 miles, the Cher of 50, and the Loire of 37. ...With the help of the Berri canal the last-mentioned is navigable throughout. The chief remaining rivers of the department are the Beuvron, which flows into the Loire on the left, and the Sauldre on the right of the Cher. All these named have a southwesterly course, following the slope of the department. The climate is temperate and mild, and healthy if Sologne be left out of account. The mean temperature ranges between 52° and 53° Fahr., and the rainfall is 25 ’ 4 inches. Of the total area more than a half is arable; one-sixth is under wood, and one-sixth is waste; vineyards, meadows, and pasture lands occupy the remainder.
Sheep are extensively reared, and the Perche breed of horses is much sought after for its combination of lightness with strength. There arc more than twenty thousand beehives within the department. Beauce is the most productive district; in 1878 it yielded 342,000 quarters of wheat, 556,000 of oats, and 1,500,000 bushels of potatoes, besides meslin, rye, barley, buckwheat, beetroot,, maize, colza, and hemp. In the same year the production of wine amounted to 27,000,000 gallons, the most valuable being that of Côte du Cher. The forests are an important source of wealth. Sologne supplies pine and birchwood for furnace fuel, and in th» neighbourhood of Blois there are oak, elm, and chestnut plant t-tions. In the river valleys fruit trees and nursery gardens are numerous. Formerly the speciality of Loir-et-Cher was to supply Europe with gun flints. Building stones, and also clay for bricks and pottery, are also abundant. The chief industries are the manufacture of cloth at Romorantin (where spinning, ribbonmaking, and tanning are also carried on), of white leather and gloves at Vendôme, distilling, glass-making, paper-making, potterymaking, and the like. The exports are wine, brandy, vinegar, wood, cloth, wool, leather, grain, legumes, wax, and leeches. Of the castles which adorn the department the finest and most famous is that of Chambord, near the left bank of the Loire opposite Blois (the capital). The three arrondissements are those of Blois, Romorantin, and Vendôme. In 1876 the population was 272,634, an increase of 55,721 since 1801.
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