Sarthe
a department of France, N. of the Loire; formed out of the old provinces of Anjou and Maine; area, 2,- 411 square miles. The Sarthe flows S. through the department, and the Loire W. along the S. border. The department is fairly level and the soil fertile. Essentially an agricultural department, it produces wheat, oats, barley, and potatoes, sends its geese, chickens, eggs, cattle and swine to Paris, is famous for its breed of horses and for its wine and cider. Coal is mined, and there are manufactures of hemp, linen, and cotton textiles, paper, glass, leather, machinery, etc. Capital, Le Mans. Pop. 420,000. that of Lisbon and Brazil S. siphilitica, invitation to Copenhagen in 1753; and that of Australia S. glycyphylla. Many Asiatic species of smilax, as S. zeylonica, S. glabra, S. perfoliata, S. leucophylla, tor of the conservatory at Venice (till and S. china, and S. aspera and S. excelsa from the S. of Europe the last two sometimes called Italian sarsaparillafurnish inferior qualities of the drug. The name is also applied to the Aralia nudicaulis, which grows wild in the United States and Canada.