Account of the principal Coal-Mines in France. £55 
the products of which have been considerably increased of late. 
These mines may be mentioned as examples of works well con- 
ducted, and of great importance for the prosperity of the coun- 
tries in which they are situated. 
Then comes the coal deposit of the Lower Loire, which fur- 
nishes 6 mines, two of which are situated in the department of 
that name, and three in the Department of the Maine and the 
Loire. The whole quantity produced by them yearly is £50,000 
quintals of coal, and they employ upwards of 600 workmen. 
Then the Departments of the Nievre and Allier, which have 
also 5 coalworks. Here the want of channels of conveyance 
(especially in the Department of the Allier) has hitherto pre- 
vented the works from being carried on to a greater extent. 
This effect is still more sensible, with reference to the coal de- 
posits situated in the midst of the mountains of the centre and 
south of France. Those of the neighbourhood of Aubin, in 
the Department of the Aveyron, for example, might, from their 
extreme richness, furnish the whole of France with fuel, and yet 
the quantity annually extracted from them is not so much as 
10,000 quintals of coal ; and even this small quantity is taken 
from thirty different mills, by superficial works conducted with- 
out any rule, and which are continually deteriorating the pre- 
cious subterranean domain which the soil contains. The want 
of market also obliges a considerable quantity of small coal to be 
left at the bottom of the mines, in the Departments of the Avey- 
ron, the Gard, the Loire, and others ; and this quantity, which 
is thus lost for consumption, may be estimated at a twentieth 
part at least of the total product of the coal-mines of France. 
— ( See Bonnard , Ingenieur en chef des Mines.) 
Lastly , The Department of the Mouths of the Rhone is the 
only one that remains to be noticed with reference to the subject 
in question. Eighteen mines in this Department employ £00 
workmen, and produce annually 180,000 quintals of coal. 
The selling priee of coal varies exceedingly, according to the 
quality, the facility of working, and especially the abundance of 
the products, and the extent of the conveyance. Thus, in the 
Department of the Aveyron, the mean price is only from 35 to 
40 centimes the quintal; in the Department of the Loire, the 
price varies from 30 centimes to 1 franc ; in the Department of 
r £ 
