Th0 department is by uo means naturally fertile; the soil consists for the most part of a sandy clay resting upon chalk—nevertheless a great weight of corn is raised. Of the whole area, about 1,500,000 acres, four-fifths are under the plough. The principal crops are wheat, rye, and mixed grain. Barley and buckwheat are also grown; but oats and potatoes are comparatively little cultivated. A great quantity of corn is exported to the departments of Seine-Inferieure, Seine, and Nord. The meadows do not exceed 40,000 acres, nor do the open pasture-grounds much exceed 20,000 acres; yet horses, cows, and sheep are numerous. Poultry is very abundant and good. Pulse, seeds for oil, hops, hemp, and flax are grown. There are no vineyards, but the orchards and gardens are numerous and extensive. The apple is the fruit chiefly cultivated, and a considerable quantity of cider is made ; it forms, with beer, the ordinary drink of the inhabitants. Game abounds, and sea fish and fresh-water fish are plentiful. The woodlands amount to about 138,000 acres.
The climate resembles that of the south of England, but is rather colder in winter. Among the minerals are building- and limestone, gypsum, pottersi-clay, and coal, which is found near Doullens.
The manufactures comprise woollen-cloths, cotton fabrics, silks, linens, Cashmere shawls, chintzes, muslins, carpets, hosiery, glass, hardware, paper, leather, seed-oil, soap, pottery, and chemical pro ducts. The department has numerous bleach-works, cotton-factories, beet-root sugar-mills, dye-houses, and oil- and tan-mills. Steam machinery is used in all the chief industrial establishments, especially in the neighbourhood of Amiens.
The department is divided into fivo arrondissements, which, with their subdivisions and population, are as follows :— 1. Of the first arrondissement, and of the whole department, the chief town is AMIENS. A iraines, on the high road from Abbeville to Beauvais, and near the railway from Amiens to Abbeville, has a great number of oil- and corn-mills driven by three small streams that meet in the town, and 2200 inhabitants, who manufacture woollen-cloth, soap, and leather. Corbie, on the Somme, 10 miles E. by railway from Amiens, has some woollen manufactures and tan-milla, and about 2800 inhabitants. Picquigny, a small place of about 1500 inhabitants, on the left bank of the Somme, 9 miles from Amiens by railway, has some historical note. Here Guillanme, Longue-Epee, duke of Nor mandy, was assassinated in 942. Louis Xl. had an interview with Edward IV. of England iu 1475 on the bridge that spans the Somme, opposite Piequisy. Poi.; a small well-built town, situated in a valley 17 miles W. from Amiens, midway between Beauvais and Abbeville, on the high-road from Boulogne to Paris, has a largo tile-yard, a church which dates from the 12th century, and about 1100 inhabitants. A little out of Pal:. on the Celle, is Canty, or Conti, formerly tho capital of a principality, which gave title to one of the branches of the house of Bourbon. Villers-Bretonneux, a few miles S. from Corbie, has about 3200 inhabitants, who are engaged chiefly in the woollen manufactures.
2. In the second arrondissement the chief town, Doullens, situated on the left bank of the Authie, 19 miles N. from Amiens, is defended by a double citadel, formed by two forts or citadels communicating with each other. It has a tribunal of first instance, public offices, a
theatre, two hospitals, and 4254 inhabitants. Trade is carried on in coarse linen, corn, oil, hemp, flax, and cattle.
3. In the third arrondissement the chief town is Nontdidier, a wretched ill-built place with 3793 inhabitants, 22 miles S.E. from Amiens. 3Iontdidier is situated on a hill on the right bank of the Darn a feeder of the Avre; it is an old town, with some remains of the fortifications which formerly defended it. It has tribunals of first instance and of commerce, a college, and an agricultural society. Cotton-yarn, cotton-hose, and leather are manufactured ; and trade is carried on in grain, pulse, cattle, poultry, peat, and coals. Noreuil, a well-built little town of 2200 inhabitants, is situated on the right bank of the Avre, 12 miles by railway S.S.E. from Amiens. Roye, built on the slope of a hill on the right bank of the Avre, 10 miles N.E. from llontdidier, has narrow streets and ill-built houses. The town-hall, a gothic building, is in the public square, which is large. The church of St-Pierre is lighted through stained glass windows, representing the coronations of Clovis, Charlemagne, and St. Louis. There are manufactures of cotton-yarn, cotton and woollen stockings, &c., and considerable trade is carried on in corn and flour for the supply of Paris). Royo was a place of strength in former times, and was repeatedly besieged.
4. In the fourth arrondissement the chief town is Peronne, which is situated on a hill above the right bank of the Somme, 30 miles E. from Amiens ; and has a tribunal of first instance, a college, and 4142 inhabitants in the commune. Permute was a place of importance in the middle ages. Charles le Simple died here in captivity in 929. It was the scene of the interview (1468) between Louis XI. and Charles, duke of Bourgogne, described by Sir Walter Scott in 'Quentin Durward.' In 1536 it was besieged by Henri of Nassau, one of the officers of the emperor Charles V., but without success. It is still fortified by a brie.: rampart and a strong castle. The town has two suburbs ; the houses are tolerably well built, and there are two churches, a nunnery, an hospital, and a theatre. Calico, dimity, muslin, lawn, and other cottons and linens are manufactured ; also leather, seed-oil, and beet-root sugar. Albert, a station on the Great Northern of France railway, 15 miles N.W. from Peronne: population about 3000, who manufacture woollen-cloth, cotton stuffs, linen, leather, and paper. Bray, population 1500, on the Somme, afforded shelter to Philippe of Valois after the battle of Crecy. Ham, 13 miles S.E. from Peronne, is situated in a marshy plain near the left bank of the Somme, and was in the middle ages a place of strength. It is surrounded by the ruins of its ancient fortifications, and has a castle, used as a state prison, and memorable as the place of confinement of the ministers of Charles X. and of Prince Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, now emperor of the French, who for his attempt at revo lution in Boulogne, underwent here part of his sentence to perpetual imprisonment from October 6,1840, to May 26, 1846, when he effected his escape disguised as a workman. There are three parish churches and an hospital. The townsmen manufacture blankets and cotton goods, sabots, beet-root sugar, and oiL Population 2500.