CHAPTER VI.

Climate.

Vermont is near the middle of the North Temperate Zone, and is in the region of westerly winds. The temperature, amount of moisture and the winds are favorable to the health of the people and to the productiveness of the soil. The mean annual temperature for the different parts of the State varies from forty degrees to forty-seven degrees, of Fahrenheit's thermometer; the highest temperature varies from ninety to one hundred degrees; and the lowest from thirty degrees to forty degrees below zero. The average annual rainfall is from thirty inches in the dryest to forty-five inches in the wettest parts of the State. the valleys the direction and force of the winds are greatly modified by the adjacent mountains and hills. Rain and snow storms come mostly from the west. But the rainfall and snowfall are usually preceded by, and in the beginning accompanied by, south winds. Northeasterly and southeasterly storms sometimes occur, but they are not frequent. West, northwest and north winds indicate fair weather. Snow usually comes in November and remains till April. There is less snow near Lake Champlain and in the Otter Creek Valley than in other parts of the State. The spring opens earlier in these valleys and in the Connecticut Valley toward the south than it does in other portions of Vermont.

CHAPTER VII.

Soil and Productions.

The soil of Vermont is generally fertile. The valleys and the lower and less rocky hills are suitable for cuitivation The higher hills and the mountains

furnish pasturage and lumber.

From 1870 to 1880 the number of farms in Vermont increased five per cent., and the acreage of land in farms increased nearly eight per cent. In the proportion of land in farms to the total land surface, Vermont is the sixth State.

The chief product is the grass of the pastures and hay-fields. Other products are corn, wheat, oats, barley, buckwheat; rye, bears, peas; potatoes, garden vegetables; apples and maple sugar. Vermont produces more maple sugar than any other State, and nearly one-third of all that is produced in the United States.

The following table from the U. S. census of 1880 is valuable and will be convenient for reference.

Other farm products are cattle, horses, sheep, hogs and poultry.

Cattle are raised chiefly for their dairy products of butter and cheese and for beef and hides; horses, for domestic use and for export; sheep, for wool and for export.

In 1890 Vermont produced more butter and cheese in proportion to her population than any other State, and was the tenth State in the aggregate amount of these products.

The poultry consists of turkeys raised for their flesh, and of hens raised for their eggs and flesh, together with a few geese and ducks raised for their flesh and feathers.

The most useful kinds of timber are ash, basswood, beech, birch, butternut, cedar, cherry, chestnut, elm, fir, hemlock, ironwood, maple, oak, pine, poplar, spruce, tamarack.

Large wild animals are not numerous in Vermont, but some are found. Bounties are offered by the State for the destruction of bears, foxes, lynxes, panthers and wolves. Of these, bears are found in the most mountainous portions of the State; foxes are widely distributed; the others are rarely found.

Laws exist for the protection of the beaver, deer, mink, otter; none of these are plenty. Other wild animals are the bat, hedgehog, mole, mouse, muskrat, rabbit, raccoon, rat, skunk, squirrel, weasel, woodchuck.

Birds abound in Vermont. The following are protected by law,-the partridge, wild duck, wild goose, woodcock, also the bluebird, bobolink, catbird, cherry or cedar bird, chickadee, creeper, ground bird, humming bird, kingbird, lark, linnet, martin, night hawk, peewee, phoebe, plover, sparrow, swallow, thrush, warbler, whippoorwill, wren, woodpecker, yellow bird.

Other birds are the crow, eagle, English sparrow, hawk, owl.

Many of the lakes, ponds and streams of Vermont are well supplied with fish. Successful efforts are making to re-stock waters that have become destitute Fish are protected by laws regulating the time and manner of fishing. These are some of the common kinds of fish,--bass, dace, eels, minnows, perch, pickerel, pike, pout, salmon trout or longe, shiners, suckers, trout.

CHAPTER VIII.

Rocks and Quarries, Metals and Mines.

Throughout the greater part of Vermont the prevailing rocks contain a large proportion of lime, and on exposure to the weather they are gradually changed into soil. The granitic rocks and the rocks of the

Green Mountains in the southern half of their length have less lime, are harder and change much more slowly. The rapidly changing rocks help to keep up the fertility of the soil.

Some rocks are very useful for building, statuary and other purposes. Slate suitable for roofing, flooring, flagging and many other uses is found in three different parts of Vermont. One of these is west of the Taconic Mountains, beginning nearly at the north end of that range and extending south as far as Equinox Mountain. In this section slate is quarried in many places; near Lake Bomoseen and in the valleys of the Castleton, Poultney and Pawlet rivers, particularly in the towns of Castleton, Fair Haven, Poultney and Wells.

Another section extends from Lake Memphremagog southward along the valley of the Black River, crosses the Lamoille and the upper Winooski valleys, extends along the east side of the Dog River and ends just south of the White River. In this section slate for roofing is quarried in the valley of the Dog River at Northfield.

The third section begins east of the Passumpsic and north of the Moose River and extends south along the Connecticut River, mostly on the west side and never far from it, to the south line of the State. Quarries have been opened at various points in this section, but none are extensively worked now.

Marble in many varieties and of excellent quality is found in the Southwest and Champlain valleys from Equinox Mountain to Canada line. Extensive quarries are worked in Eolus Mountain and both south and north of it, beside the Castleton River, particularly at West Rutland, and in the Otter Creek Valley in Rutland, Proctor, Pittsford, Brandon, and other towns. A kind of variegated marble is produced in Swanton near the Missisquoi River and black marble is quarried on Isle La Motte. Serpentine, called verde antique marble, is quarried at Roxbury.