SOMME, a department of northern France, formed in 1790 of a large part of the province of Picardy (comprising Vermandois, Santerre, Amiénois, Ponthieu, Vimeu, and Marquenterre) and a small portion of Artois. It is bounded on the N. by Pas-de-Calais and Nord, E. by Aisne, S. by Oise, and S.W. by Seine-Inférieure, and its sea-coast extends 28 miles along the English Channel. Two streams flowing into the Channel—the Authie on the north and the Bresle on the south-west—bound it in these directions. The surface consists of great rolling plains, generally well-cultivated and very fertile. The highest point, hardly 700 feet above the sea, lies in the south-west, not far from Aumale. From the mouth of the Authie to the Bay of the Somme the coast is lined with a belt of sand-dunes about 2 miles broad, behind which is the Marquenterre, a tract of 50,000 acres reclaimed from the sea by means of dykes and traversed by drainage canals. The Bay of the Somme, obstructed by dangerous sand-banks, but containing the three ports of Crotoy in the north, St Valery in the south, and Hourdel in the south-west, has also been considerably encroached upon by the same methods. Next come the shingle banks, behind which the low fields of Cayeux (25,000 acres) have been reclaimed; and then at the hamlet of Ault commence the chalk cliffs, which continue onwards into Normandy. The river Somme traverses the department from south-east to north-west for a distance of 125 miles, through a marshy valley abounding in peat. Commanded by Ham, Péronne, Amiens, and Abbeville, this valley forms a northern line of defence for Paris. Apart from the water-power it supplies, the Somme is of great commercial value, being accompanied by a canal all the way from its source wherever it is not itself navigable. ...From Abbeville to St Valery its lower course forms a maritime canal 165 feet wide, 13 feet deep, and 8 to 9 miles long, capable of bearing at high tide vessels of 300 tons burden. From St Valery to the open sea the channel is bounded on the south by a towing-path embankment 2 miles long, and on the north by a dyke, capable of being laid under water, 1 mile long, and there the current hollows out a very variable bed accessible at certain tides for vessels of 500 tons. The most important affluents of the Somme—the Ancre from the north-east by way of Albert and Corbie, the Avre from the south-east by Roye, and the Selle from the south by Conty—join the main stream at Amiens. The Authie and the Bresle are respectively 65 and 45 miles long. The latter ends in a maritime canal about 14 feet deep between Eu and Treport. The mean temperature is lower than that of Paris (49° Fahr, at Abbeville). Rain falls on 175 days per annum (33 inches at Abbeville).
Of the total area of 1,522,520 acres, 1,178,184 acres are under tillage, 68,844 are under meadows and pasture land, 133,837 are occupied by wood, while 30,514 acres are heaths or uncultivated tracts. In 1881 the live stock included 78,069 horses, 940 mules, 6125 asses, 140,512 cattle, 449,675 sheep (wool-clip 1117 tons), 82,755 pigs, 21,726 goats; there were also 27,902 hives (116 tons of honey and 36 of wax). The department, especially in the north-east, is one of the best-cultivated in France. Beetroot for sugar is the staple crop of the Péronne arrondissement; cereals, fodder, oil plants (especially the poppy), hemp, and potatoes are grown throughout the department, the latter more largely on the seaboard. No wine is grown, but the cider harvest of 1883 amounted to 8,904,100 gallons, and beer is a common beverage. In 1884 there were grown 7,072,106 bushels of wheat, 1,810,437 of meslin, 1,008,932 of rye, 1,789,089 of barley, 4207 of buckwheat, 11,197,392 of oats, 4,930,067 of potatoes, 1,161,665 tons of beetroot for sugar, and 208,686 tons of beetroot for fodder, 40 tons of hops, 242 tons of hempseed, 651 tons of hemp fibre, 1123 tons of flax, 5245 tons of colza seed, and 240,311 tons of fodder. Peat-cutting (84,335 tons in 1882) gives employment to 2640 hands, the best qualities and the deepest workings being in the valley of the Somme, between
Amiens and Abbeville. The peat of inferior quality is burned on the spot and the ashes used as manure. Textile industries employ 36,000 hands. The linen and hemp manufacture is carried on in dressing establishments and spinning and weaving factories with 50,000 spindles, 2250 power-looms, and 4000 hand-looms, and the manufactures comprise canvas for packing and sail-making, and linen (including damask). Cotton is spun by 72,800 spindles and woven by 745 power-looms and 5000 hand-looms. Moleskins and velvets for upholstery and other purposes are among the articles manufactured. "Wool is wrought in 44 establishments with 124,000 spindles, 120 power-looms, and 400 hand-looms, producing yarns of all kinds, “Scotch cashmeres,” “China satins,” serges, merinos, repps, poplins, &c. Tulles, embroidery, laces, ribbons, plush, carpets, cotton, and woollen hose are also manufactured. The last industry employs half the population of Santerre. About 6400 workmen are engaged in the iron and copper industries, steam-engine and boiler making, and the production of spinning-mill machinery, railway plant, and umbrella frames. The arrondissement of Abbeville is the centre of a great lock-manufacture, employing from 4000 to 5000 workmen. There are also chemical factories, bleacheries, tanneries, paper-mills (470 hands, product 6108 tons in 1881), saw-mills, and soap and candle works. Beetroot sugar is manufactured in 66 establishments (5090 horse-power and 6450 workmen). In 1881 53,177 tons of sugar were produced and 2,247,146 gallons of spirit distilled from the molasses and the beet. The total number of hands employed in the industries of the department is 64,000, and the total horse-power 13,181. Thirty-seven decked boats with 400 hands are engaged in the deep-sea fisheries, in the coast fishery 132 small boats with 300 hands. Cereals, horses of the Boulogne or Norman breed, cattle, hemp and linen, and the manufactured goods are the exports of the department. Vegetables and other foodstuffs are sent to England, and shingle for the manufacture of earthenware. Besides the raw materials for the manufacturing industries, wines, timber, dye-stuffs, and coal (727,783 tons in 1882) are imported. There are 385 miles of national and 5033 miles of local roads, 119 miles of navigable river or canal, and 379 miles of railway. Administratively the department comprises 5 arrondissements (Amiens, Abbeville, Doullens, Montdidier, and Péronne), 41 cantons, and 836 communes. The population in 1881 was 550,837. The department constitutes the diocese of Amiens, which city (population in 1881, 67,874) is also the seat of a court of appeal and the headquarters of the 2d corps d’armée, in which the department is included.
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