MARNE  , a

department of north-eastern France, made up from Champagne-Pouilleuse, Remois, Haute-Champagne, Perthois, Tardenois, Bocage and Brie-Pouilleuse, districts formerly belonging to Champagne, and bounded W. by Seine-et-Marne and Aisne, N. by Aisne and Ardennes, E. by Meuse, and S. by Haute- the apple, plum and cherry . Pine woods are largely planted in Champagne-Pouilleuse . The department produces peat, millstones and chalk . The woollen industry has brought together in the neighbour-hood of Reims establishments for spinning, carding, dyeing and weaving . The materials wrought are flannels, merinoes, tartans, shawls, rugs and fancy articles; the manufacture of woollen and cotton hosiery must also be mentioned . The manufacture of wine-cases, corks, casks and other goods for the wine trade is actively carried on . Marne contains blast-furnaces, iron and copper foundries, and manufactories of agricultural implements . Besides these there are tan-yards, currying and leather-dressing establishments and glassworks, which, with sugar, chemical, whiting and oil works, potteries, flour-mills and breweries, complete the list of the most important industries . Biscuits and gingerbread are a speciality of Reims . The chief imports are wool and coal; the exports are wine, grain, live-stock, stone, 'whiting, pit-props and woollen stuffs . Communication is afforded chiefly by the river Marne with its canal connexions, and by the Eastern railway . There are five arrondissements—those of Chalons (the capital), Epernay, Reims, Ste Menehould and Vitry-le-Francois—with 33 cantons and 662 communes .

The department belongs partly to the archbishopric of Reims and partly to the see of Chalons . Chalons is the headquarters of the VI.

army corps . Its educational centre and court of appeal are at Paris . The principal towns —Chalons-sur-Marne, Reims, Epernay and Vitry-le-Francoisare separately treated . The towns next in population are Ay (4994) and Sezanne (4504) . Other places of interest are Ste Menehould (3348), formerly an important fortress and capital of the Argonne; Montmort with a Renaissance chateau once the property of Sully; Trois-Fontaines with a ruined church of the 12th century and the remains of a Cistercian abbey founded in 1115; and Orbais with an abbey church dating from about 1200 .