The msuufacturee comprise iron and ironmongery of all kinds, carried on iu 60 furnaces, forges, and foundries; glass, pottery, bricks, leather, apirita, cotton.stuffa, paper, hats, drugget, hosiery, canvass, seed oil, &c. There is a good trade in agricultural produce, timber, staves, deals, cheese, salt., and cattle.
The department is divided into three arrondissements as follows :— 1. In the first arrondissement the chief town is Vesoul, which is also the capital of the whole department It is situated at the base of a conical hill at the junction of two small streams that form a feeder of the Saone, 200 miles S.E. from Paris, and has 6061 inhabit ante in the commune. It is well built, and is adorned with publio walks. There are a church, with a handsome high altar in marble, a town-hall, a courthouse, a covered market, and handsome cavalry barracks ; there are also a theatre, an hospital, and public baths. The manufactures are calicoes and other cottons, braid, hate, nails, hosiery, and clock and watch works. There ore dye-houses, tan-yards, end wax bleaching-works. Trade is carried on in corn, hay, wine, cattle, iron, and bides; there are twelve yearly fairs. The town has a college, a public library of 21,000 volumes, an agricultural society, an eccle siastical school, a normal school, a acientifie society, and a depart mental aursery-ground. The other towns of the arrondissement are small: they arc Jussey, 18 miles N.W. from Vesoul, population 2800 : Pont-sur-SaGne, 8 miles W. from Vesoul, population 2200: Sect', on the &One, which is here crossed by a fine bridge of 14 arches : population, 2150. Seey-sur-Saone has ironworks and tanyards; the neighbouring country is beautiful and fertile.
2. In the second arrondissement the chief town, Gray (population 6703), isbnilt ou the elope of a hill above the Saone, SO miles S.W. from Vesoul, and is commanded by the ruins of an ancient castle formerly inhabited by the dukes of Bourgogne. The streets are crooked and steep, but the houses are built with tolerable regularity. There are cavalry barracks, a theatre, a fountain, a public walk, an exchange, two hospitals, and several parish churches. Some woollen cloth and other articles are manufactured; but the chief business of the town arises fruit, its situation on the Saone, on which river goods are here embarked from different parts of Lorraine, Champagne, Bout gogito, and Franche Comtet, in order to be sent to the south of France; end goods from the south are landed. There are immense mills of different kinds on the Saone. One of them, the great flour mill of 3L Tramoy, containe 11 bydraulio wheels, worked by water.
power derived from the Saone, and driving 11 pairs of millstones.
The flour is scut down the river chiefly to Lyon and Marseille. The chief articles of trade are corn, hay; timber, deals, wine, iron, and colonial produce. Gray has a tribunal of first instance, an agricultural society, a college, and a public library. At Champlitte, which staude 14 miles N.W. from Gray in the valley of the Salon and has 3100 iuhabitauts, linens, druggets, brandy, and hats are manufactured. The hills around Champlitto are covered with vineyards. At Gy, 11 miles E. from Gray (population 2700), druggets, cotton goods, and vinegar are made, and considerable trade is carried on in wine.
3. In the third arrondissement the chief town is Lure, which is situated in a marshy plaiu 16 miles N.H. from Veaoul, and bas 3346 inhabitants in the commune. Lure was formerly celebrated for its Benedictine abbey. The sub-prefect occupies the former residence of the abbot The town consists principally of one long and very wide street, into which some smaller streets or lanes open ; the houses aro low, but tolerably well built. The inhabitants have tan-yards and dye-houses, and carry on trade in leather, iron, corn, timber and cheese. Straw-hats are made in the district The towu has a tribunal of first instance and a college. Among the other towns are Champagney, 8 miles N.E. from Lure, population 3000, mostly employed in the neighbouring coal-minea; Mricourt, a well-built town, 16 miles E. by S. from Lure, with above 3500 inhabitants, several cotton-mills, some of which are driven by water and some by steam, tan-yards, breweries, and tile-works; St.-Loup, at the foot of the Vosges, population 2600; and Luxeuil, a well-built town on the Breuchio, 12 miles N.W. from Lure, population 4000, engaged chiefly in trade and in large iron-works near the town. Luxeuil is frequented for its hot mineral-springs, which were known to the Romans. It was in former ages still more cele brated for its abbey and school, founded by St. Columbanus wee 590.
This department, with that of Doubs, constitutes the archiepiscopal diocese of Besancon ; it is included in the jurisdiction of the High Court and within the limits of the University Academy of Besancon. The department returns three members to the Legislative Chamber of the empire. It is included in the 7th Military Division, the head quarters of which are at Besancon. The Lutherans have a conaistory at 116ricourt, and churches at four other places in the department. The Lutheran service is performed in the nave, while masa is cele brated in the choir of the parish church of Hericourt.
(Dictionnaire de la France.)