LOIRE, Lower, a department of France, formed out of a part of Upper Bretagne, extending in north latitude from 46. 44. to 47. 50. and in west longitude from 1. 6. to 2. 39. It is bounded on the north by the departments of Morbihan and Ille-Vilaine, on the east by those of Mayenne and Mayenne-Loire, on the south by Vendée, and on the west by the ocean. It is divided into five arrondissements, forty-five cantons, and 209 communes, and contains 417,120 inhabitants. The extent is 3021 square miles, or 766,000 hectares. Of this land, 268,100 hectares are under the plough, 105,700 are pastures and morasses, 137,800 are not cultivated, 82,780 consist of vineyards, 80,430 are woods and forests, and the remainder are the sites of towns and villages, roads, rivers, and salt marshes. The face of the country is generally level, but interspersed with a few hills of inconsiderable height. The highest of them are covered with a vegetable or clayey soil, resting on a bed of granite or schist. In some districts the overflooding has created extensive turf ground, which is applied to the purposes of fuel. The agriculture is in a backward state, though somewhat improved of late years. In the northern portion of the department, wheat, and in greater proportion rye, buckwheat, and pulse, form the grain crops, but in the south-west, wheat is the principal grain; yet the whole corn grown is scarcely more than three fifths of what the consumption requires. The meadows on the left banks of the Loire pasture many cows, and the butter from the dairies is much esteemed. The cultivation of the vine is an important object of industry, especially in the arrondissements of Savenai, Ancenis, and Nantes. The greater part of the wine is converted into brandy. Apples are the most abundant fruit, and a great quantity of cider is made from them in several districts. There are mines of iron and of coal, but the former are not highly productive, and only yield 1000 tons annually; the latter are said to be equal in quality to the best coals of England. The principal manufacture is that of linen; but of late the cotton trade has been much extended, and in printed cotton a
great progress has been made, and a large quantity is fabricated. The chief trade is concentrated in the city of Nantes, the capital. A large portion of culinary salt is collected from the marshes on the sea-shore. The river Loire conveys to the sea the water of most of the other streams. The department elects four members of the legislature.