Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Tarn

TARN, a department of southern France, formed in 1790 of the three dioceses of Albi, Castres, and Lavaur, all belonging to the province of Languedoc, lies between 42° 23' and 44° 12' N. lat. and 1° 32' and 2° 56' E. long. It is bounded N. and E. by Aveyron, S.E. by Hérault, S. by Aude, S.W. and W. by Haute-Garonne, N.W. by Tarn-et-Garonne. The slope of the department is from east to west, and its general character is mountainous or hilly; its three principal ranges, the Mountains of Lacaune (peak of Montalet, 4154 feet), the Sidobre, and the Montagne Noire, belonging to the Cevennes, lie on the south-east. The stony and wind-blown slopes of the first-named are used for pasturage. The highest point of the range and of the department is the Pic de Montalet (4154 feet); several other summits are not much short of this. The granite-strewn plateaus of the Sidobre, from 1600 to 2000 feet high, separate the valley of the Agoût from that of the Thoré. The Montagne Noire derives its name from the forests on its northern slope, and some of its peaks are from 3000 to 3500 feet high. The limestone and sandstone foot-hills are clothed with vines and fruit trees, and are broken by deep alluvial valleys of extraordinary fertility. With the exception of a small portion of the Montagne Noire, which drains into the Aude, the whole department belongs to the basin of the Garonne,—indeed, if the rivulet Giron be excepted, to that of the Tarn, which flows in a westerly direction past Albi, Gaillac, Lisle, and Rabastens, receiving on the left the Agoût at St Sulpice. Northern Tarn is drained by the Aveyron and its tributary the Viaur. The eastern portion of the department has the climate of Auvergne, the severest in France, but that of the plain is Girondin. At Albi the mean temperature is 55°, and the rainfall 29·5 inches. The population of the department in 1886 was 358,757.

Of the total area of 2217 square miles, or 1,418,969 acres, there are 887,709 acres of arable land, 118,071 of meadows, 118,934 of vineyards, 186,594 under wood, and 52,408 of moorland. By last returns there were 11,360 horses, 3280 mules, 5430 asses, 20,560 bulls and oxen, 53,900 cows and heifers, 13,240 calves, 455,500 sheep (wool-clip in 1878 1209 tons), 87,700 pigs, 5360 goats, and 17,190 bee-hives. In 1878 37 tons 14 cwt. of silk cocoons were produced, Oxen and sheep are fattened; ewes’ milk cheese like that of Roquefort is made; and geese and turkeys are reared. The crops in 1881 were—wheat, 3,429,112 bushels; meslin, 53,113; rye, 1,371,040; barley, 37,730; buckwheat, 8448 ; maize and millet, 1,566,873; oats, 538,422; potatoes, 2,554,860; dry vegetables, 374,715; chestnuts, 268,125; beetroot, 196,625; 782 tons of hemp; 476 of flax; 9,676,476 gallons of wine (only half the quantity of the previous year, owing to the phylloxera). Both common and good table wines are produced.

The mineral products include marble, porphyry, granite, lime, manganese, sulphate of baryta, alum, iron, lignite, and tourmaline. In 1881 335,430 tons of coal were taken from seven pits, and other mines are about to be opened. There are iron, alkaline, thermal, and carbonate of lime springs. The chief centre for the manufacture of woollen stuffs (in 1875 287 mills, 6457 workmen, and 98,615 spindles) and for wool-spinning and weaving (4893 machine and hand looms) is at Mazamet (q.v.), but all sorts of woollen and cotton stuffs are produced in other localities. Other industrial products are woollen hosiery, cotton, silk, and linen thread, morocco, hats, earthenware, glass, soap; and there are tanneries, distilleries, flour-mills, breweries, dye-works, sawmills, printing-works, and numerous limekilns. In 1881 929 tons of steel and 1947 tons of iron of various kinds were produced. The Tarn is navigable for 43 miles; there are 208 miles of national roads, 4274 of other roads, and 120 of railway. The department forms the diocese of Albi, and belongs to the 16th corps d’armée (Montpellier), and the court of appeal is at Toulouse. The chef-lieu is Albi. There, are 4 arrondissements (Albi, Castres, Gaillac, Lavaur), 35 cantons, and 318 communes.