CHER, a department of central France, embracing the eastern part of the ancient province of Berry, and parts of Bourbonnais, Nivernais and Orleanais, bounded north by the department of Loiret, west by Loir-et-Cher and Indre, south by Allier and Creuse, and east by Nievre. Pop. (1931) 293,918. Area 2,819 square m. Oolitic rocks occupy much of the department but are covered by Cretaceous and Tertiary deposits in the north. The higher well drained land of the south and east is suitable both for cultivation and for pasturage. The valley of the Loire is especially fertile and the eastern, sunny slopes are noted for their vines, particularly in the neighbourhood of Sancerre. Wheat and oats are largely cultivated, whilst hemp, vegetables and fruits are also produced. The central districts are fertile but are low-lying and marshy,being often flooded by the Cher. The department contains much pas turage whence considerable trade in horses, cattle, sheep and wool for the northern markets. Many parts, also, are well-wooded. The chief rivers, besides the Cher and its tributaries, are the Grande Sauldre and the Petite Sauldre on the north, but the Loire, which forms the eastern boundary, and the Allier, though not falling within the department, drain the eastern districts, and are navi gable. The Cher itself becomes navigable when it receives the Arnon and Yevre, and communication is greatly facilitated by the Canal du Berry, the lateral canal of the Loire, which follows the left bank of that river, and the canal of the Sauldre. Mines of iron are worked and stone is quarried. There are brick, porcelain and glassworks, flour-mills, distilleries, oil-works, saw-mills and tanneries. Bourges and Vierzon are metallurgical and engineering centres. The department is served by the Orleans railway. It is divided into the two arrondissements (29 cantons, 2,913 com munes) of Bourges and Saint-Amand-Mont-Rond, of which the former is the capital and the seat of an archbishop and of a court of appeal. The department belongs to the academie (educational division) of Paris, Bourges, Saint-Amand-Mont-Rond, Vierzon and Sancerre (q.v.) are the principal towns. Mehun-sur-Yevre (pop. a town with porcelain manufactures, has a Romanesque church and a château of the 14th century. The church at St. Satur has a fine choir of the 14th and 15th centuries; those of Dun-sur Auron, Plaimpied, Aix d'Angillon and Jeanvrin are Romanesque in style, while that at Aubigny-Ville is of the 12th, 13th and 15th centuries. Drevant, on the site of a Roman town, preserves ruins of a theatre. The Pierre-de-la-Roche, at Villeneuve-sur-Cher, is the most notable megalithic monument.