8 -\. 11. Agk. ExrEKiMEXT Station [liuiietiii 2GU 



the county, but each of the towns enumerated includes a village of 

 appreciable size Avliich largely accounts for its superiority in numbers. 

 The population ])er square mile for the area was 24.8, as compared to 

 51.5 for the whole State. There has been a net gain of some 3,000 in 

 population over a period of forty years, resulting from slight increases 

 in every census period excei)ting that of 1910-1920. 



The county seat is at the village of "Woodsville in the town of Haver- 

 hill and on the Connecticut Kiver. Woodsville is also the railroad cen- 

 ter of the county. 



Physiographic Features 



The topography is varied. Elevations of 300 to 500 feet near the 

 Connecticut River on the west easily change to 1,000 feet within 

 scarcely a mile to the east. Bethlehem's main street, in the north end 

 of the county away from the river, is some 1,500 feet above sea level. 

 Small hills in some cases rise almost immediately from the river to 

 heights of 1,500 feet or more until toward the northeastern boundary 

 one encounters the Presidential Range of the White Mountains, and 

 just over the line, in Coos County, the highest peak in the State, ]\Ionnt 

 Washington. Sometimes the transition in elevation is so abrupt that 

 no tillage land is provided adjacent to the river. Such is the condition 

 in Hanover and Lebanon, but in this case an irregular plateau of good 

 farm lands is found on a terrace considerably higher than the present 

 river channel. 



The Connecticut River may be emphasized as defining an area of 

 good farms. Tributaries of this river tending to reach in an easterly 

 direction toward the mountains, or branches of the Merrimac River 

 system flowing southeasterly out of the southern part of the county 

 may provide some other isolated pockets or narrow ribbons of alluvial 

 soils fairly well adapted to farming. Furthermore, there are many 

 fields scattered over the rounded tops or half way up the sides of the 

 smaller hills. Here, in the past, a vast amount of energy ex])ended in 

 removing stumps and in building houses and stone walls has contrib- 

 uted to the present generation a doubtful heritage of farms encumb- 

 ered not only Avith sloping fields but often with shallow, rocky soils. 



Soils 



There is no soils nuip of this county, but something of the nature of 

 the soils may be suggested from observation or from a study of otiier 

 areas of similar topography in neighboring states adjacent to the 

 river. Over the county as a whole, the soils are ])redominantly glacial 

 in origin. Throughout the u])lan(ls, then, there is an unassorted mass 

 of glacial debris of varying thickness, but tending to be shallow Avith 

 much rough, stony land and rock outcrop. This soil is not naturally 

 uni)roduetiv(', but lack of depth, the presence of rocks, inaccessibility 

 or sl<)])ing t()i)()grapliy render much of it unsuitable for machine culti- 

 vation. The origin of this soil mantle from crystalline rocks of gran- 

 ite, gneiss or similar formations has endowed it with little if any lime. 

 Near the Connecticut River, the benches or terraces that occur more or 

 less continuously in narrow strips consist of old stratified deposits of 



