Nógrád

a megye (county) in northern Hungary. Area, 2,544 sq km; population, 241,000 (1970). The administrative center is Salgótarján. Nógrád Megye is a mountainous and hilly, partially wooded area between the Börzsöny massif in the west and the Mátra massif in the east. It is one of the important industrial regions of Hungary. It accounts for about 10 percent of the brown coal mined in the country (in the areas of Salgótarján, Nagybátony, and Kisterenye). Other industries include metallurgy (steel-rolling and cast-iron production in Salgótarján and the only ferrosilicon plant in the Hungarian People’s Republic, in Zagyvaróna), building materials, machine building (production of mining equipment in Zagyvapálfalva and of agricultural machinery in Salgótarján). Plowlands account for 48 percent of the county’s area; forests, for 37 percent. Wheat, Indian corn, rye, barley, and potatoes are planted in the valleys and on the hill slopes. Cattle, swine, and sheep are also raised.