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NEW HAMPSITIRE. 



parts it often lies till May. The spring is wet and foggy, but the summer is beautiful, and the 

 j)rogress of vegetation very rapid ; the number of fair days throughout the year, compared to 

 the cloudy, are 3 to 1. New Hampshire is a healthy State, and epidemics have seldom pre- 

 vailed in it. The most remarkable were the cynanche maligna-, or putrid sore throat, which 

 made its first appearance at Kingston in jMay, 1735, and the petechial, or spotted fever, which 

 • prevailed in different places in 1811, and still later. Within a century, there have been known 

 83 persons, who lived from 100 to 120 years. 



9. Soil. The best lands in New Hampshire are on the borders of the large rivers, where, 

 being occasionally covered by the waters, they are fertihzed by the rich sediment which these 

 deposite. The hilly land has a moist and warm soil, affords fine pasturage, and supports im- 

 mense numbers of cattle and sheep. Where the land lies in large round swells, the tops and 

 sides of these heights have a fertile soil, while the land in the valleys between is generally 

 cold and poor. Where a considerable river runs through a valley, the land on one or both 

 sides, is often of the best kind. On the banks of the Connecticut are many thousands of acres, 

 level and smooth, with not a stone to be seen in them, and yielding the richest crops of grain 

 and hay. Barren tracts of any considerable extent are unknown ; and, except the wild and un- 

 explored region at the north, the State is very generally susceptible of cultivation. 



10. Geology. The high ridge of mountains which separates the branches of the Connecti- 

 cut and Merrimack, is composed of the older primitive rocks ; granite predominates at the more 

 northern and elevated part of the ridge, while mica slate appears more abundantly at the south- 

 ern portions, where it constitutes the Great Monadnock and some other lofty eminences. Mica 

 slate predominates in this chain, but granite appears in various places ; it has a coarse, porphy- 

 ritic structure ; the imbedded grains of felspar are large, but very seldom in twin crystals. Por- 

 phyritic granite occurs also in boulders and in rolled masses east of this ridge. A beautiful 

 fine-grained granite is found in many places, as at Concord, Boscawen, and Hopkinton, and 

 affords admirable building stone. East of this great ridge, mica slate, gneiss, and greenstone 

 occur. In passing from Concord easterly to Portsmouth, the following succession of rocks 

 may be observed ; granite, 4 miles from Concord ; gneiss, 11 miles ; mica slate, 14 miles ; 

 granite, 15 miles ; then gneiss, and lastly greenstone ; the direction of the strata is nearly north- 

 east and southwest. There is a remarkable alluvion formation through which the Merrimack 

 passes, and which embraces all the sandy plains which are covered with pine and black timber 

 in the neighborhood of the river. This formation extends through Chelmsford to Cambridge 

 and Boston, on one hand, and, on the other, it follows the course of the river quite to the ocean, 

 embracing large tracts of land on either side. Rocks in some places break through this alluvial 

 deposite, but they form no very high hills. 



11. JMinerals, Quarries, ^-c. Steatite, or soapstone, is found at Francestown and Orford, 

 where it is quarried and wrought. Primitive limestone occurs at Orford, Hanover, Lisbon, 

 and Meredith, where there are also quarries. Pyritous copper, or copperas ore, is found at 

 Franconia. Galena, or lead ore, is found at Orford and Lebanon, and iron at Franconia. 

 Plumbago, or black lead, has been recently discovered in many places, in most abundance at 

 Bristol. The other minerals which this State produces in greater or less abundance, are beryls, 

 garnets, jasper, manganese, asbestos, and amethyst. The iron mine at Lisbon is one of the 

 richest in the United States. The quantity of ore is inexhaustible, and it yields above 60 per 

 cent of metal. The ore is taken from a mountain in the east part of Lisbon, and carried 3 

 miles to the furnace in Franconia, where about 12 or 15 tons of iron are made in a week. 



12. Jfatural Productions. The native forest-trees of New Hampshire are lofty and luxuri- 

 ant, and yield vast quantities of timber. This State was originally an entire forest ; the moun- 

 tainous regions being covered with a thick growth of oak, maple, beech, walnut, hemlock, fir, 

 white pine, &c. ; the plains and valleys with the elm, cherry, ash, poplar, hornbeam, birch, 

 sumach, locust, and many others. Many varieties of pine are natives of this State. The white 

 pine, one of the noblest trees in the world, grows here in great perfection ; it sometimes attains 

 to the height of 200 feet, yet its stem is perfectly straight, and often exceeds G feet in diame- 

 ter. In 1736, a white pine was cut from the border of the Merrimack, the trunk of which was 

 straight and sound, and 7 feet 8 inches in diameter. The pitch pine and hemlock also grow 

 very high here ; the fir and other species grow to a more moderate height. Of the oak, elm, 

 birch, maple, &c., there are several varieties. The rock maple is the sugar maple of this re- 

 gion, and grows very high, yielding sap which makes the finest sugar. The red and white ma- 

 ple also yield sugar, but in less quantities. Of wild plants and roots, valuable for culinary and 



