Out of a total of 1,319,570 acres 664,846 are arable, 375,999 under forest, 153,278 natural meadows and orchards, and 31,752 vineyards. The agricultural population numbers 180,893 out of a total of 295,905. They possess 22,331 horses, 152,609 cattle, 63,000 sheep, 72,678 pigs, 7094 goats, more than 19,000 dogs, and 15,915 beehives (40 tons 15 cwts. of honey in 1881). Wheat is the staple crop—2,727,425 bushels in 1883; next come oats, 3,188,322 bushels; potatoes, 8,175,673 bushels; wine, mostly of middling quality, 4,887,652 gallons (average vintage for the last ten years 6,086,652 gallons); rye, 449,308 bushels; barley, 396,940; meslin, 276,251; buckwheat, 63,945; maize, 64,924; millet, 154; colza, 456 tons; beetroot, 26,365 tons; pulse, 5662 bushels; hemp, linen, tobacco, hops. The woods, which cover more than a quarter of the department, are composed of firs in the Vosges and beech trees, oaks, wych elms, and aspens in the other districts. Kirschwasser is manufactured at Fougerolles from the native cherries. The industrial population number 51,477; 550 workmen raise 143,842 tons of iron-ore yearly; copper, silver, and manganese exist in the department, and gold occurs in the bed of the Ognon. Rock-salt mines yield annually 11,000 tons of salt and the materials for a considerable manufacture of sulphuric, hydrochloric, and nitric acids, sulphate of soda, chloride of lime, and Epsom and Glauber salts. Coal mines, with their principal centre at Ronchamp, give employment to more than 2000 workmen, and in 1883 yielded 212,680 tons of coal. Peat, limestone, plaster, building-stone, marble, porphyry, granite, syenite, and sandstone are all worked in the department. The green porphyry pedestal of Napoleon’s sarcophagus at Les Invalides and the syenite columns of the Grand Opera in Paris were cut at Servance. Οf the many mineral waters of Haute-Saône the best known are the hot springs of Luxeuil, which, with their sixteen saline and two chalybeate sources, discharge over 127,000 gallons in the 24 hours and are used for bathing and drinking. Besides forty-seven iron-working establishments (smelting furnaces, foundries, and wire-drawing mills, producing in 1883 4875 tons of iron smelted by wood-fuel, 286 tons of refined iron and 1040 tons of sheet-iron, &c.), Haute-Saône possesses copper-foundries, engineering works, steel-foundries, and factories for producing tin plate, nails, pins, files, saws, screws, shot, chains, agricultural implements, locks, spinning machinery, edge tools, &c. Window-glass is manufactured by 105 workmen and glass wares by 300, pottery and earthenware by 220 to 230. There are also about 100 brick and tile works; the paper-mills employ 329 hands, and the 21 cotton-mills (66,700 spindles and 2518 looms, of which 154 are hand-looms) upwards of 2000. Printworks, fulling mills, hosiery factories, and straw-hat factories are also of some account; as well as sugar-works, dye-works, saw-mills, starch-works, chemical works, oil-mills, tanyards, and flour-mills. The department exports wheat (893,000 bushels), cattle, iron, wood, pottery, kirschwasser, and cooper’s wares. The Saône provides a navigable channel of 40 miles, which is about to be connected with the Moselle and the Meuse by the Canal de l’Est in course of construction along the valley of the Coney. Gray is the great emporium of the water-borne trade, estimated at 200,000 tons per annum. The department has 186 miles of national roads, 3313 miles of other roads, and 235 miles of railway—the Paris-Mulhouse and Nancy-Gray railways, crossing at Vesoul, and various other lines. There are three arrondissements,—Vesoul, Gray (7254 inhabitants in the town), Lure (4360),—28 cantons, 583 communes. Haute-Saône is in the district of the 7th corps d’armée, and in its legal, ecclesiastical, and educational relations depends on Besançon. Luxeuil (4376 inhabitants), the most important place after the subprefectures, is celebrated for its abbey, founded by St Columban in 590.

Of a total area of 2,116,311 acres (this is one of the largest of the French departments) 1,079,395 are arable, 371,866 forest, 292,287 natural meadows and orchards, and 106,111 vineyards. In 1880 the live-stock comprised 26,000 horses, 6000 asses and mules, 75,000 bulls and oxen, 150,000 cows and heifers, 56,000 calves, 216,000 sheep, 175,000 pigs, 50,000 goats, 35,000 beehives (yielding 214 tons of honey and 52 tons of wax). The white Charollais oxen are one of the finest French breeds, equally suitable for labour and fattening. No fewer than 366,252 of the inhabitants of the department out of a total of 625,559 depend on agriculture. In 1883 there was produced 3,678,276 bushels of wheat, 22,890 meslin, 1,022,037 rye; in 1880 210,375 bushels of barley, 754,875 buckwheat, 809,325 maize, 101,970 millet, 2,107,187 oats, 13,359,307 potatoes, 38,500 pulse, 70,936 tons of beetroot, 206 tons hemp, 195 tons hempseed, 135,300 bushels colza-seed, 3177 tons colza oil. In 1883 the vintage yielded 22,636,636 gallons of wine, the average quantity of recent years being 21,809,018 gallons. The red wines of Mâconnais (especially those of Thorins) are those in highest repute; Pouilly produces the best white wines. The industrial classes are represented by 150,983 individuals. The coal-basin of Creusot, the sixth in importance in France, produced in 1882 1,269,783 tons. A pit at Épinac is 3937 feet deep. Iron-ore was extracted in 1882 to the amount of 28,654 tons. Slate, limestone, building-stone, millstones, granite, marble, marl, plaster, bituminous schists, peat, kaolin, manganese (4360 tons per annum), and certain precious stones are also found in the department. The most celebrated mineral waters are those of Bourbon-Laney, six out of the seven springs being thermal. They are strongly saline. Metal-working is principally carried on at Creusot, which, with its 13,000 workmen and its 13 smelting furnaces, 100 puddling ovens, 4 Bessemer apparatuses and 4 Martin’s ovens, &c., produced in 1882 63,989 tons of iron (965 tons of rails, 21,984 tons of sheet-iron) and 99,823 tons of steel (72,085 tons of rails, 7056 tons of sheet-iron). The engine works produce all sorts of machines, including about 100 locomotives. The Châlon branch works turn out ships, boats, bridges, and boilers, other foundries and forges in the department produced in 1882 175,113 tons of cast iron and certain quantities of copper and bronze. The cotton manufacture employs 14,000 spindles and 2000 looms, silk 2900 spindles and 2500 handlooms, wool-spinning 350 spindles, other industrial establishments are potteries, tile-works, glass-works (6,000,000 bottles at Épinac alone), distilleries, oil-works, mineral-oil works, cooperages, tanneries, flour-mills, sugar-works—the total number being 850 with 1372 steam engines of 27,780 horse-power. The commerce of the department, especially as regards its exports, deals mainly with coal, metals, machinery, wine, cattle, bricks, pottery, glass. It is facilitated by five navigable streams (181 miles),—Loire, Arroux, Saône, Doubs, Seille,—the Canal du Centre which unites Chalon-sur-Saône with Digoin on the Loire, and the canal from Roanne to Digoin and the lateral Loire Canal, both following the main river valley. The total length of the canals is 90 miles. There are 365 miles of national road, 7098 of other roads, and 487 miles of railway. Saône-et-Loire forms the diocese of Autun; it is part of the district of the 8th corps d’armée (Bourges), and its university is that of Lyons. It is divided into five arrondissements, —Mâcon, Chalon-sur-Saône, Autun, Charolles (3350 inhabitants in the town), Louhans (4280),—50 cantons, and 539 communes; the most populous commune is Creusot (28,000 inhabitants, 16,000 in the town). Montceau-les-Mines (4560) is also a mining centre. Cluny (3500) is celebrated for its abbey, now occupied by the normal school of secondary instruction, and Paray-le-Monial (300) for its pilgrimage.