ILLE-ET-VILALNE. The soil of this department of France is made to produce all kinds of breadstuffs, in quantity more than enough for the wants of the population. In the rich soils, wheat of excellent quality is raised ; tobacco is grown near St. Malo ; rye, barley, oats, buckwheat, and mixed grain are produced in -the middling •and poorer soils. The cultivation of flax and hemp for the ma nufactures of the department is very extensive; the flax and hemp in the dressed state, as also the seeds, are important objects of commerce. The apple and the pear are extensively culti vated for making cider and perry, the chief drinks of the population ; the cider is strong enough to keep for two years, and is considered the best made in France. Excellent butter and cheese are made. The forests of the de partment contain fine timber.: the prevailing kinds are oak and beech; next come chestnut, poplar, and birch. Several iron mines are
worked : roofing and clay slate, white quartz for the glass factories, limestone, and granite are quarried : lead and copper ore are found. The most important manufactures are linen, sailcloth of the best quality, Russia duck, can vas, and shoe and morocco leather; felt and straw hats, sewi.thread, thread-- stockings, ship cordage and ropes, fishing nets, hooks and lines, pottery, cotton and woollen yarn, are also made. There I are besides, several bleaching establishments, brandy distilleries, : paper mills, iron forges and smelting furnaces, and flour-mills ; in_ the towns on _ the coast shipbuilding is: carried on to some extent. Salt is made in some of the marshes on the', coast.- • The commerce is composed of the various articles named, and of groats, chest nuts; salt pork, hides, oak staves, firewood, &c.