6 
numerous as the producers. Drilling is not praeticed. Sowing is done from 
April 20th to May 20th, according to the soil and season. Harvesting com- 
mences between the 20th and the last of July, and continues to the middle of 
August. 
6. The cost of grazing cattle in Sullivan is estimated at $3 50 per head for 
six months; in Belknap, about the same for the season, from May 20th to Oc- 
tober 20th. In Cheshire the price is $4 for six months. 
7. New Hampshire is an uncertain region for fruit production. Apples have 
sometimes been profitably grown. Belknap claims to be agood county for fruit, 
and with some show of especial reason, on account of the great extent of water 
surface in the system of small lakes south of the White mountains. One firm 
delivered in the town of Laconia, the past season, $3,000 worth of fruit trees. 
It is estimated that $10,000 has been expended in this county in ten years 
(mostly in five) for pear trees. One man in the town above mentioned receives 
$500 annually for pears and plums grown on two acres near the lake. 
Grapes are grown in very favorable locations. One Isabella vine, neara lake 
in Belknap, produces annually 2,000 pounds of fruit. The vineis 22 years old, 
has 11 main branches from the same root, and a total length of vine of about 1,300 
feet. It is located on high ground, a mile from the water, soil hard and rocky, 
the site well protected against winds. The soil is manured with a top dressing 
of well-rotted stable manure; the vine is laid down but not covered in winter, 
and the fruit generally ripens and sells for 20 to 40 cents per pound. This state- 
ment is reported by O. A. J. Vaughn, of Laconia. 
VERMONT. 
1. The increase in the value of farms ranges from 10 to 30 per cent.; the 
latter in Orleans county, the former in Bennington and Essex. Orange, 11; 
Addison, 15; Grand Isle, 12 per cent. 
2. Unimproved lands are highest in Addison, a good section of the State, and 
a county famous for sheep husbandry, in which pasture lands are in demand. 
The average value of wild lands in this county is placed at $20; $5 in Essex ; 
$6 to $8 in Washington; $8 to $15 in Orange; $10 in Orleans. In some of 
the counties these lands lie mostly among mountains, with a rough and rocky 
surface, and are well timbered with hemlock and spruce. The opening of rail- 
road facilities and the establishing of lumber companies have doubled the value 
of timber lands in many places. Spruce, basswood, birch, cherry, white ash, 
butternut, and other species are used for lumber. 
3. The disintegration of rock containing carbonate of lime is the source of 
fertility to soils in the western part of the State, and deposits of muck and 
peat abound. Soapstone, serpentine, chrome, and iron are found in Orleans. 
In Orange are copper mines, which have been worked to some extent. A slate 
quarry has recently been opened in West Randolph. In Monkton, Addison 
county, an extensive bed of kaolin is worked profitably. In Northfield, Wash- 
ington county, granite and slate are largely manufactured for building purposes. 
Marble quarries are worked to advantage in Grand Isle and Rutland. 
4, Grass, oats, potatoes, and wheat are the most reliable sources of profit to 
the farmer. A common rotation in Washington is as follows: First year, corn 
or potatoes; second, oats or wheat, (mostly oats;) then grass six or eight 
years. In one or two towns in Orleans hops are extensively grown; in some 
others potatoes, at the rate of from 100 to 300 bushels per acre. In three or 
four of these 50,000 bushels have been sold for starch, at thirty to thirty-seven 
cents per bushel. Dairies are sources of much income. Many Orleans farmers 
obtain 200 pounds of butter per cow. In Grand Isle wheat is assumed to be 
profitable, costing $1 50 per bushel, yielding at the present time $2 35, or a 
profit of eighty-five cents per bushel; and oats fifty cents, selling now at eighty 
cents. 
