513 miles. The principal of these are: the Eastern Railroad, 16.8 miles; the Nashua and Concord Railroad, 35 miles; the Northern Railroad, 81.7 miles; the Manchester and Lawrence Railroad, 23.5 miles; the Sullivan Railroad, 25.6 miles; the Concord and Montreal Railroad, 69 miles; the Portsmouth and Concord Railroad, 40 miles: the Concord and Claremont, 50 miles; and others, as the Ashuelot, the Contoocook Valley, Central, Cocheco, and Great Falls and Conway, etc. The navigation of the Merrimac has been improved by dams, locks, and short canals; these are at Bow Falls, Hookset Falls, Amoskeag Falls, Union Falls, and Sewall's Falls. The Middlesex Canal affords a boatable communication between Boston and Concord. The effect these lines have had on the interests of the state are apparent in the rapid progress made of late years in every department of industry. With one exception their seaward terminus is at Boston. Education in New Hampshire is liberally provided for, and its Common Schools have long been fostered by the state. The whole number of school districts, in 1850, was 2,167, and the average attendance at these was, in summer, 46,225, and in winter, 60,271, each season averaging about nine weeks. The number of teachers employed was 1,246 males, and 961 females; the monthly wages of the first was $14 73; and of the latter, $6 21, varying, however, in the several districts. The whole amount expended in the support of these schools was $174,518, of which sum $145,892 were raised by tax, and the remainder either contributed by the state or received from the proceeds of local funds. The teachers have an Institute. The schools have hitherto been under a State Superintendent, but in 1850 were placed under the charge of County Superintendents. There is an asylum for the Insane at Concord, but the Deaf and Dumb are provided for at the American Asylum at Hartford, and the Blind at the Asylum at Boston. The only collegiate institution is Dartmouth College, at Hanover, founded in 1769. It has 9 professors, and in 1850 had 221 students. Its library contains 16,500 volumes. The New Hampshire Medical School, attached to this institution, was founded in 1797. In 1850 it had 7 professors and 52 students; its graduates at the same date numbering 758. This school has a good apparatus for philosophical and chemical purposes, and a valuable anatomical museum. There are three theological schools: the Methodist General Biblical Institute, at Concord, founded in 1847, had in 1850, 3 teachers, 40 students, and a library of 2,000 volumes; the Gilmanton Theological Seminary, founded in 1835, is under the direction of the Congregationalists, and in 1850 had 3 professors, and 23 students, and its library contained 4,300 volumes; and the New Hampton Theological Seminary, under Baptist direction, was founded in 1825; in 1850 it had two teachers, and 36 students, and in its library, 2,000 volumes. The principal religious denominations are the Baptists, Congregationalists, and Methodists: in 1850 the Baptists had 7 associations, 96 churches, 73 ordained and 14 licensed ministers, and 8,526 church members; the Congregationalists, 211 churches, 192 ministers, and 24,629 church members; and the Methodists, 181 ministers, and 9,123 church members. Of the other denominations, the Protestant Episcopalians, Universalists, Unitarians, etc., are the most prominent. Roman Catholics are few in number, and are excluded by the Constitution from political power. New Hampshire is the only one of the United States that gives to one religious sect a preference over another. New Hampshire was granted in 1622 to John Mason and F. Gorges, and the first settlements were begun in 1623, at Dover and Portsmouth. In 1641 it was annexed to Massachusetts, but in 1679 it again became a separate province. New-Hampshire, with the other New-England States, in 1686, was placed under the government of Sir Edmund Andross; the union with Massachusetts was revived in 1689, and continued until 1692. From 1699 to 1702 it was united to Massachusetts and New-York. In the latter year it was wholly under Massachusetts, but in 1741 a final separation took place. After the revolutionary war, to which it raised a subsidy of 12,409 men, it formed a constitution, and has since been an independent member of the union. The English authority was extinguished in this state in 1775, and in 1776 a temporary government was established, which continued during the war, a president being annually elected. CONCORD, the capital, lies on both sides of the Merrimack, which is spanned by two bridges. Lat. 43° 12' 20" N., and long. 71° 29′ W. The city lies chiefly on two streets, one of which extends nearly two miles. The public buildings are a state-house, a court-house, jail, state prison, &c.; there are also numerous churches and many elegant private buildings. The state-house is a beautiful structure of hewn granite, 125 feet long and 49 feet wide, with a projection of four feet on each front, and cost over $80,000. It is surmounted by a fine cupola. The hall of the representatives and sen ate chamber are spacious and elegant rooms. The city contained in 1850, fifty-six stores; produced hardware and cutlery to the amount of $40,810; it had one fulling mill; one wool factory; and three tanneries, &c. There were published at that date six weekly newspapers and one periodical. The academy contained 180 students, and thirty-six common and primary schools educated 2,180 scholars. Population, 8,584. By locks and canals around the falls of the Merrimack and the Middlesex Canal, a valuable communication exists with Boston; there is also a communication by railroad. Turkey Pond, containing an area of 700 acres, and Long Pond, 500 acres, are in the immediate vicinity, on the west side of the city. PORTSMOUTH, near the mouth of the Piscataqua, is the largest and most commercial town in the state. Its harbor is unsurpassed in the world, being safe, easily defended, and having forty feet of water at the lowest tides. It is completely land locked, and protected by several large islands from the winds. The town is neatly built, and has a population of 9,739 inhabitants, who carry on the coasting trade and fisheries with some activity, and prosecute some branches of manufactures. The navy station of Kittery is on the opposite shore of the river. Lat. 43° 4′ 35′′ N., and long. 70° 45′ 50′′ W. Portsmouth was first settled in 1623, under the auspices of Mason and Gorges. It has several times been destroyed by fire. The other principal places are Dover, Nashua, Keene, Exeter, Manchester, Peterborough, Walpole, Claremont, Gilmanton, Meredith, Hanover and Haverhill. THE STATE OF VERMONT. VERMONT is the north-westernmost of the New-England States, and lies between the parallels of 42° 50′ and 45° north latitude, and the meridians of 71° 33′ and 73° 25' west longitude. The state is bounded north by Lower Canada, as settled by the treaty of 1842; east by the western bank of the Connecticut River, which separates it from New-Hampshire; south by Massachusetts, and west by New-York, from which it is separated chiefly by Lake Champlain. It is 157 miles long, from north to south, and 61 wide, from east to west, and contains a superficial area of 10,212 square miles, or 6,535,680 acres. The surface of Vermont is, with little exception, hilly and mountainous. The Green Mountains, from which the state derives its name, come from Massachusetts, and run through its centre. In the southern part of Washington county they divide into two chains: the western and principal chain continuing in a northerly direction, and terminating near the northern boundary of the state; the eastern, or as it is sometimes called, the "height of land," strikes off to the north-east, dividing the waters which fall into Lake Memphremagog and Lake Champlain. The western range presents the highest summits, but has inequalities, which afford a passage for Onion and La Moelle rivers. The loftiest culminations in the Green Mountains, are Killington Peak, a few miles east of Rutland, 3,675 feet high; Camel's Rump, about half-way between Burlington and Montpelier, 4,190 feet; and Mansfield Mountain, a few miles farther north, 4,230 feet above the level of the sea. Ascutney is a single mountain, five miles south-west of Windsor, 3,320 feet in height. The soil of Vermont is in general fertile, being for the most part deep and of a dark color, moist, loamy, and well-watered. The intervale lands are esteemed best; bordering on these is a strip, one or two miles wide, which is comparatively poor; but beyond this the land possesses a fertility nearly equal to that on the rivers. The soil is peculiarly well-adapted for the cereal grains, especially on the margins of the lakes and rivers. Grazing is also extensively engaged in by the inhabitants, and even on the Green Mountains are fine grazing farms. The natural growths east of the mountains are birch, beach, maple, ash, elm, and butternut, and on the west the growth of the hard woods is intermixed with pine and other evergreens. The climate is nearly assimilated to that of New-Hampshire. The winter commences in November, and snow lies from the middle of December to the middle of March. On the side of the hills it is often from four to six feet deep The thermometer ranges from 94° to 15° or 20° below zero; the mean annual temperature is about 43° Fahr. Trees bud from the 6th to the 20th April, and flowers from the close of May. Wheat and oats are sown about the middle of April, and ripen about the middle of August. The first frost appears from the middle of September to the commencement of October, but is light until November. Lake Champlain lies between New-York and Vermont. Its length, from Whitehall, at its southern extremity to its termination, 24 miles north of the Canada line, is 128 miles; its breadth varies from half a mile to sixteen miles, and its surface covers about 600 square miles. There are several large islands in the northern part of the lake, the principal of which are North and South Hero and Isle La Motte. The outlet of the lake is the River Sorelle, which runs north into the St. Lawrence. Lake Memphremagog is partly in this state, but principally in Canada. It is 30 miles long, and discharges its waters through the St. Francis River into the St Lawrence. Lake Champlain is connected with the Hudson River by a canal 64 miles long, which joins the river a little north of Albany, and also forms a junction with the Erie Canal. There are several good harbors in Vermont on this lake, the principal of which are Burlington, St. Albans, Vergennes, &c. &c. The Connecticut receives several streams, flowing from the eastern declivity of the mountains, the principal of which, commencing at the south, are the West River, Queechy, White River, and the Passumsic. The riv ers which fall into Lake Champlain, beginning in the north, are Missisque, which rises south-west of Lake Memphremagog, and discharges itself into Missisque Bay; La Moelle, which rises south of the same lake, and running west, empties itself 10 miles north of Burlington; Onion River, which rises still farther south, and running nearly parallel with La Moelle, passes by Montpelier, and joins the lake four miles north-west of Burling ton; Otter Creek, which rises in the south-western part of the state, and, running west of north, passes by Rutland, Middlebury, and Vergennes, and empties itself twenty miles south of Burlington. None of the rivers of Vermont are navigable, except for a few miles from their mouths; but they abound with valuable mill-sites. The population of Vermont, in 1850, amounted to 313,611, or in the proportion of one person to every 21 acres; and was thus distributed among the 14 counties into which the state is divided: The number of dwelling-houses in the state, on the 1st June, 1850, was 56.548, and the number of families 59,665, and hence the ratio of families to each dwelling is 1.06, and the ratio of persons 5.5, indicating a ratio of about five persons to each family. The deaths occurring in 1849-50 amounted to 3,130, or a ratio of one death to each 100 persons. The returns giving this result, however, are probably incorrect. The industry of this state is essentially agricultural, no less than three fourths of the whole population being engaged in farming and grazing. The whole number of farms in 1850 was 29,809. The live stock is estimated at 420,000 neat cattle: 67.000 horses and mules; 200,000 sheep; 320,000 hogs; and poultry to the value of about $180,000. Oats yield the largest cereal crop, the production being upwards of 4.000.000 bushels; of Indian corn about 1500,000 bushels are produced; of wheat 500,000 bushels; of rye and buckwheat about 450,000 bushels each; and of barley 70,000 bushels. The potatoe crop varies from seven to eight millions of bushels, and that of hay is about 800,000 tons. Animal products, and the products of the dairy, are large and valuable; and the forest yields exportable articles in the shape of lumber, pot and pearl ashes, &c. Manufactures in this state are confined chiefly to the production of coarse and bulky articles, as leather, bricks and lime. paper, woollen goods, &c. The woollen trade employs fully one fourth of the whole manufacturing capital of the state. Domestic, or home-made articles, are produced largely, and perhaps few states, in this respect, exhibit a greater thrift and industry than Vermont. Mining, except in a very few localities, is but little attended to, although many of the useful metals, and much fine building material, are found in the state. The foreign commerce of Vermont is very limited. Its only direct outlet is Burlington, on Lake Champlain, and hence the eastern portions of the state must depend on other states for a market. The value of exports in 1849-50 was $430,906, and of imports $463,092, but this year was one of more than average prosperity. The entrances amounted to 99.435 tons, and the clearances to 82.856 tons. The shipping owned within the state on the 30th June, 1850, was 4,530 tons, 3,096 tons of which was navigated by steam. The transit and internal trade of Vermont is considerable, and is constantly being extended. This state has of late years progressed wonderfully, and has now several long lines of railroad, extending from the borders of Massachusetts and New-Hampshire to Burlington and Canada; and lines also extend south-west from Rutland to Whitehall and Troy, in New-York. More than 300 miles of road are now in working order with in the state. Vermont has 23 banks, and it is a highly creditable fact that they are all solvent, and well managed. Their condition in 1850 was as follows:Liabilities: capital stock $1,829,395; circulation $2,321,808; other liabilities $351,659-total liabilities $4,502,862. Resources: specie $129,811 discounts $3,541,081; deposits $606,320; other assets $346,519-total $4,623,731. The means of education in this state are ample, but nevertheless the system cannot compete with that pursued in Massachusetts or New-York. The oldest collegiate institution is the University of Vermont, founded in 1791. Its library contained about 12,000 volumes. Middlebury College was finished in 1800; it has six professors, and in 1850 had 63 students. Its library counts 7,054 volumes. Norwich University, founded in 1834, has also six professors, and in 1850 had 59 students. There are two medical schools in the state. The Castleton Medical College was founded in 1818, and has seven professors, and in 1850 had 104 students. The Vermont Medical College, at Woodstock, dates from 1835, and in 1850 had 90 students attending its courses. Theological seminaries are numerous. Academics and grammar-schools are from 50 to 60 in number, and in these between 4,000 and 5,000 students are constantly being educated. The common schools of the state are under the charge of a state superintendent. According to the School Report of 1850 the number of school districts was 2,647, and the number of scholars 95,616. The state gave for the support of these $74,180, but the whole cost, the balance of which is raised by tax in the several districts, amounted to $204,695. The teachers' wages averaged, for males, $13.78 per month, and for females. $5.60 per month. The number of weeks taught by males was 19.125, at a total cost of $65,896, and by females 41.721, at a cost of $58,475. There was formerly a separate fund for the support of schools, but this was abolished in 1845, and |