SEINE-ET-OISE, a department of northern France, formed in 1790 of part of the old province of Île-deFrance, 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 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 Yères, the Marne, the Oise, and the Epte, and on the left the Essonne (joined by the Juine, which passes by Étampes), the Orge, the Bièvre, 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 comprised 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 porcelain factory at Sèvres; the Government powder-mills of Sevran and Bouchet; the paper-mills and cardboard mills (1570 workmen) of Corbeil (population 6566 in 1881), Étampes (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’armée 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.); and its church, rebuilt in the 19th century in the Romanesque style, is a fashionable place of pilgrimage.
[697 words — estimated reading time: 4 minutes]