  The contribution of the smectic-nematic interface to the surface energy of a
nematic liquid crystal sample is analyzed. By means of a simple model it is
shown that the surface energy depends on the thickness of the region over which
the transition smectic-nematic takes place. For perfectly flat substrates this
thickness is of the order of the correlation length entering in the transition.
An estimate of this contribution shows that it is greater than the one arising
from the nematic-substrate interaction. Moreover, it is also shown that the
surface energy determined in this way presents a non-monotonic behavior with
the temperature.
