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MARNE
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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.