In general the department is fertile and well cultivated. Along the Seine fine meadow-land has been reclaimed by dyking; and sandy and barren districts have been planted with trees, mostly oaks and beeches, at their finest in the forest of Argues and along the railway from Rouen to Dieppe. The forest of Eu covers 36 sq.m. in the north-east. Wheat and oats are the principal arable crops, rye, flax, colza, sugar beet and potatoes being also important. Milch cows are kept in great numbers especially in the Bray district, and Gournay butter and Gournay and Neuf chatel cheese are in repute. The farms of the Caux plateau are each surrounded by an earthen dyke, on which are planted forest trees, generally beech and oak. Apples and pears are grown, and much cider is produced. A little peat is cut, and there is a number of quarries. Rouen is the chief centre of the cotton trade, which comprises spinning and the weaving of rouenneries, indiennes (cotton prints), cretonnes and other cotton goods. Elbeuf is the centre of woollen manufacture. The dyeing and printing of fabrics and other accessory industries also employ many hands. Engi neering works, foundries and iron ship-building yards are found at Havre and Rouen. Wooden ships are also built at Havre, Rouen, Dieppe and Fecamp. Other establishments of impor tance are the national tobacco-factory at Dieppe, sugar-refineries, distilleries, glass-works, potteries, paper-works, soap-works, chemical-works, flour-mills, oil-factories, leather-works, etc. Fisheries are important. Fecamp, which plays a very important part at the Newfoundland fisheries, sends large quantities of cod, herring, mackerel, etc., into the market ; Dieppe supplies Paris
with fresh fish; St. Valery sends boats as far as Iceland. The principal ports for foreign trade are Havre, Rouen and Dieppe. Seine-Inferieure is served by the Ouest-Etat railway, but the Northern railway also has several lines there. The Seine and other rivers provide 85 m. of navigable waterway. The canal of Tancarville from Quilleboeuf to Havre is about 15 m. long, that from Eu to Treport about 2 m. The department is divided into three arrondissements (Rouen, Dieppe and Havre), 55 cantons and 759 communes. It forms the diocese of the archbishopric of Rouen and part of the region of the III. army corps and of the academie (educational division) of Caen. Its court of appeal is at Rouen, the capital.
Rouen, Havre and Dieppe and in a lesser degree, Elbeuf, Fecamp, Harfleur, Lillebonne, Yvetot, Eu, Le Treport, Aumale, Etretat, Bolbec, Barentin (qq.v.) and Caudebec-en-Caux are the chief towns. St. Martin-de-Boscherville has remains of an im portant abbey, with a fine church in the i 2th century Romanesque style, and a Gothic chapter-house of the latter half of the i 2th century; Valmont has fine ruins (i6th century) of the choir of a Cistercian abbey-church; Varengeville is well known for the manor (i6th century) of Jacques Ango (see DIEPPE) ; Graville Ste. Honorine has a Romanesque church and other remains of an ancient abbey; Montivilliers has a fine abbey-church of the th, 12th and i6th centuries; and Argues, Boos, Martainville, Mesnieres and Tancarville have old chateaux of various periods.