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the soil is preserved uf sufficient thickness to their tops to secure their cul- 
tivation, and most of the marshy lands may be reclaimed by ditchings by 
this means they will become more valuable than the uplands for pro- 
ducing hay. In fine, it will be found an excellent country for grazing, 
raising stock, and for producing butter and cheese. The strength of 
the soil is sufficiently tested by the heavy growth of timber, which is 
principally of hardwood, as beech, maple, yellow birch, butternut and 
elm. The evergreens, or pines, are confined mostly to the lower ranges 
of mountains. Some of them are of the largest growth of any in the 
State, and are suitable for the main shafts of the largest of the cotton 
mills. In the main the county resembles the mountainous districts of 
New-England, and like those, produces the same intermixture of forest 
trees, and has about the same adaptations for the production of the dif- 
ferent kinds of grain, as wheat, rye, oats, peas and barley, together with 
fine crops of potatoes. 
The face of the country varies from hilly to mountainous. A low 
range of mountains cross the county between the town of Wells and 
Lake Pleasant; the whole width is not far from six miles. This range, 
in its progress northeastwardly, increases in elevation until it constitutes 
the highest of the mountain groups in the State, in the towns of Mo- 
riah and Keene. 
From six to ten miles westwardly from Lake Pleasant, another low 
range of hills and mountains cross the county parallel to the former, 
but do not attain an equal elevation. The highest summit of this range 
is in township No. 19. From these remarks, and from an inspection 
of the maps, it will be perceived that Hamilton county is situated west 
and southwest of the mountainous track in which the most elevated 
groups occur. Its location in general is more favorable than Essex 
county, in which those ranges attain their highest elevation. 
From the observation of persons who have been residents of the 
county for a number of years, it appears that the seasons are much the 
same as it regards heat and cold, the length of the summer, &c. as the 
mountainous parts of New-England. The incorrect opinions which pre- 
vail as it regards its soil and its irreclaimable marshes have arisen un- 
doubtedly from hasty examinations. It is true, that the flys or marshes 
are numerous, but they are not so wet as to be unproductive, or so sunken 
as to form nuisances. Where the timber is removed, they produce spon- 
taneously a heavy crop of grass, which is reproduced from year to year 
without cultivation. Again, the flys are bottomed on a hard clean gra 
[Assem. No. 275.] 29 
