MARNE, Upper, a department of France, formed out of the Perthois, Vallage, and Bassigny, in the ancient Champagne, with some portions of Burgundy, of Bar, and Franche Comté. It extends in east longitude from 4. 31. to 5. 44. and in north latitude from 47. 41. to 48. 36., being 3721 square miles, or 642,600 hectares. The soil is classed in the following order by French authorities, viz. into ploughed land 332,463 hectares, meadows 30,610, vineyards 173,837, woods and forests 42,575, upland pasture 31,975, uncultivated land 1614; and the remainder is occupied by the sites of houses, the roads, or the courses of the rivers. The department is generally hilly, with fertile valleys between the ranges, which are part of them continuations of the mountains of Langres and others of the Vosges, but of the latter a few attain the height of 1450 feet. The soil is for the most part calcareous, but with a coat of clay, which requires great strength of draught cattle. It is the source of several rivers, most of which run into the channel or the German Ocean, but some to the Mediterranean. The chief rivers which have their source here are the Marne, the Meuse, and the Aube. The climate is, from the elevation, cold and sometimes foggy, and the frosts at a late period in the spring often injure the crops. One fourth part of the surface is covered with wood, which, by the rivers, is conveyed to parts of the kingdom where fuel is more scarce. The products of husbandry are the common grain of Europe, but not of the first quality, nor is more yielded than suffices for the consumption of the 230,000 persons who inhabit the department. The mines of iron afford some employment; and the working of the metal, and especially converting it into cutlery and other forms, maintains many families, who fabricate goods of that kind to the amount of two millions of francs annually. There are likewise manufactures of paper, earthenware, leather, and corn spirits, some cotton spinning, and some hosiery. The chief articles of which there is a surplus are, iron goods, wood, wine, wool, leather, and wax. The department is divided into three arrondissements, twenty-eight cantons, and 552 communes. It has few large towns. Chaumont is the capital, with 6500 inhabitants.