PRINCIPAL TOWNS IN VERMONT.*

MONTPELLIER, the capital of Washington county, and of the state of Vermont, is situated on an alluvial plain, at the junction of the north and south branches of the Winooski river, surrounded by elevated hills, in 44 deg. 16 min. north latitude, and 71 deg. 33 min. west longitude. Population, in 1830, 1792; 1840, 3725. The surface is uneven. The principal village is situated in the south-west part of the township, and about ten miles north-east of the centre of the state. It became the capital of the state in 1805. The Winooski, or Onion river and its branches afford good water power. The township was chartered in 1780, and first settled in 1786, on the present site of the village. The road through the Green mountains, which passes through this place, is not obstructed by high hills, and Montpellier is a great thoroughfare. The village contains a court-house, gaol, an academy, four churches-two Congregational, one Methodist, and one Universalist-and 1700 inhabitants. Among the public buildings is the state-house, a granite building, 150 feet long; the centre, including the portico, 100 feet deep; and the wings, seventy-two feet deep. The front in the centre has a fine Doric portico of six columns, six feet in diameter at the base, and thirty-six feet high. The edifice is surmounted by a dome, 100 feet high at the top, from the ground. In the interior are convenient state offices, and spacious rooms for the senate and house of representatives. There are in the township twenty-two stores, capital, 127,900 dollars; one furnace, one fulling mill, one tannery, three grist mills, five saw mills, one paper mill, six printing offices, one bindery, two daily and six weekly newspapers, and one periodical. Capital in manufactures, 82,775 dollars, one academy, 101 students, twenty schools, 975 scholars. BURLINGTON is situated in 44 deg. 27 min. north latitude, and 73 deg. 10 min. west longitude. Population, 1830, 3525; 1840, 4271. This charming village is situated on a bay on the east side of Lake Champlain. Toward the south part of the village the shore is low, but towards the north it rises to a high bluff, on the level top of which barracks were situated during the last war, and on the slope of which was a battery. From the south part of the village, the ground rises, by a gradual slope, for the distance of a mile, to its eastern boundary, which is 250 feet above the level of the lake. The streets extend from east to west to the lake shore, and are crossed by others at right angles, dividing the whole into regular squares. Near the centre is a handsome public square on which the court-house is situated. The place contains many handsome houses, generally surrounded by shrubbery, with gardens in the rear; and many large and commodious stores and warehouses. It has a fertile and extensive back country, and is the largest and most commercial place in the state. A steamboat from Whitehall to St. John's stops daily at this place. There are three substantial wharfs, and on Juniper island, which contains about eleven acres of ground, and four miles from the shore, is a lighthouse. The United States have also erected a breakwater here, as a protection against westerly winds. The lake is here ten miles across, with several islands in view; and a more beautiful sheet of water cannot well be conceived. The view from the cupola of the college, as respects natural scenery, is second to none in the United States. In addition to the beautiful village, the meanderings of the Onion river, the broad water view of the lake with its islands, its vessels, and its steamboats, it has in front, on the opposite shore of the lake, in the state of New York, the grand Adirondack mountains, nearly or quite as high as the White mountains; and on the east, in full view, the Green mountains, with their two highest peaks, Camel's Rump, and Mansfield mountain. This mountain scenery elevates the beautiful into the sublime, and contributes to form an assemblage of objects which never becomes tame by familiarity.

The buildings of the university of Vermont, four in number, are on high ground at the east side of the village. This institution was founded in 1791, and received as an endowment from the state about 30,000 acres of land, located in the various towns granted by the state of Vermont. It has a president and five professors, or other instructors, 241 alumni, 110 students, and 9200 volumes in its libraries. The commencement is on the first Wednesday in August. It has a medical department attached to it, and is flourishing.

Here is a court-house, a gaol, two banking houses, six churches, for Congregationalists, Episcopalians, Unitarians, Methodists, and Roman Catholics, some of which are elegant buildings, an academy, and a female seminary, which are fine edifices.

About a mile and a half north-east of the court-house is a manufacturing village, on the falls of the Onion river, denominated Winooski city. Beside rapids, the river here has a perpendilar fall of about twenty feet, and affords a great water power. This village is situated partly in Burlington, and partly in Colchester, and connected by a fine covered bridge across the Onion river. The mills and manufactories of this place are already considerable.

The township contains some good land, and some less fertile. The first had a natural growth of hard wood, and the latter of pine. The first permanent settlement was made in 1783. It has forty-nine stores, capital, 352,830 dollars; one tannery, one rope factory, one brewery, one

* Condensed from the United States' Gazetteer and Official Returns of 1840.

glass factory, one pottery, one grist mill, three saw mills, three printing offices, two weekly newspapers. Capital in manufactures, 84,408 dollars; one academy, 104 students, seventeen schools, 835 scholars.-Official Returns, U. S. Gaz.

BENNINGTON is in 42 deg. 42 min. north latitude, and 73 deg. west longitude. Population, 1790, 2400; 1830, 3419; 1840, 3429. It was chartered in 1749 by Benning Wentworth, then the royal governor of New Hampshire, from whom it was named and settled in 1761. It is drained by branches of Hoosick river, which afford good water power. The soil is fertile, and marble, iron ore, and yellow ochre are found. The principal village is on elevated ground, and has a court house, à Congregational church, and an academy. A little to the east is a manufacturing village. It has fourteen stores, capital 55,670 dollars; three fulling mills, two cotton factories, 1608 spindles, three furnaces, four tanneries, one pottery, one paper factory, three grist mills, two saw mills, one oil mill, one printing office, one weekly newspaper. Capital in manufactures, 111,700 dollars. Two academies, 150 students, twelve schools, 419 scholars. Population, 3429.—Official Returns, U. S. Gaz.

WOODSTOCK.-The surface of this township is picturesquely diversified, and drained by Otta Queechee river and its branches, and by Beaver brook, all of which afford water power. It contains two villages. The north or main village is one of the largest in the county, built around a public green. It contained, in 1840, a court-house, gaol, five churches-one Congregational, one Episcopal, one Methodist, one Christian, and one Universalist-the Vermont Medical College, twenty stores, two printing offices, 325 dwellings, and 1400 inhabitants. The south village is five miles south of the court house, and contains one church, two stores, and a number of mechanic shops. There were, in 1840, in the township twelve stores, capital 58,500 dollars; one fulling mill, two woollen factories, three tanneries, two printing offices, two weekly newspapers, three grist mills, five saw mills. Capital in manufactures, 127,505 dollars. One academy, twenty-five students, sixteen schools, 1042 scholars. Population, 3315.—Official Returns, U. S. Gaz.

WINDSOR.-The surface of this township is uneven, the soil fertile. Connecticut river bounds it on the east. Drained by Mill river, which affords water power. The village is situated on the west side of Connecticut river. Between the village and the river is a rich meadow, one-fourth of a mile wide. It contains three churches, a court house for United States' courts, a seminary for young gentlemen and ladies, a bank, a state prison, nine stores, one grist mill, one saw mill, a printing office, issuing a weekly newspaper, and many houses, ornamented with trees and shrubbery. Mill river has a fall of sixty feet in one-third of a mile, and affords good water power. Brownsville village, in the west part of the township, contains a Methodist church and two stores; and Sheddsville, in the same part, has a church common to the Freewill Baptists and Universalists. The township contained, in 1840, 2428 sheep. On the south border of the town is Ascutney mountain, 3320 feet above tidewater. There are in the town nine stores, capital 40,500 dollars; three fulling mills, two woollen factories, one furnace, three tanneries, one printing office, two periodicals, two weekly newspapers, five grist mills, eight saw mills. Capital in manufactures, 35,490 dollars. Eighteen schools. Population, 2744.-Official Returns, U. S. Gaz ST. ALBANS is bounded on the west by Lake Champlain, with a surface moderately uneven, and the soil a fertile loam, well cultivated. The village is situated three miles east of the lake, on elevated ground, and contains a court house and gaol, on a handsome public square, thirty by twenty-five rods, three churches-one Congregational, one Episcopal, and one Methodist-a bank, an academy, a printing office, publishing a weekly newspaper, and about 100 dwellings. It has a good landing-place on St. Albans bay, with a wharf and several storehouses. The business of the place, with a fertile back country, is extensive. There were, in 1840, in the town twenty stores, capital, 80,000 dollars; two tanneries, two printing offices, two binderies, two weekly newspapers, four saw mills; capital in manufactures, 20,500 dollars; one academy, eighty students, fourteen schools, 315 scholars. Population, 2702.

The other principal towns or townships are:
DANVILLE, with a population of 2633 inhabitants.

MIDDLEBURY, with a population in 1840 of 3162 inhabitants, a college, two academies, and twelve schools; sixteen stores, two woollen factories, one cotton factory, two tanneries, one furnace, two printing offices. Capital in manufactures, 172,700 dollars.

NEWBURY, with a population, in 1840, of 2578 inhabitants.

VERGENNES City, incorporated as such in 1788. It is situated seven miles up Otter creek, or rather a branch of Lake Champlain, as vessels of 300 tons can ascend to the city. In 1840 it contained 1013 inhabitants, three churches, thirteen stores, two fulling mills, one woollen factory, three tanneries, and iron works.

BATTLEBOROUGH, with a population of 2624 inhabitants, situated on the west branch of the Connecticut river, and is renowned for its "Typographic Company," established in 1836, with a capital of 150,000 dollars, which manufactures paper, and print and publish works upon a most extensive scale. The township had, in 1840, twenty stores, and a capital of 237,600 dollars in its paper and other factories.

ROCKINGHAM, with, in 1840, a population of 2330. Capital, in woollen and other manufactures, 119,937 dollars.

RUTLAND.-The surface of this township is uneven; soil, various, from a strong loam to a light sand, but generally fertile. Drained by Otter creek and its branches, which afford water power, and by a branch of Castleton river. The principal village, on an elevated situation, contains a court house, gaol, a bank, one Congregational and one Episcopal church, twelve stores, a printing office, issuing a weekly newspaper, and about 100 dwellings, many of them handsome. In the west part of the township is another village, containing a Congregational church, and about thirty dwellings. The Baptists and Methodists also have churches. Chartered in 1761. There were, in 1840, in the township eleven stores, capital, 28,700 dollars; one tannery, one printing office, one bindery, one weekly newspaper; capital in manufactures, 23,450 dollars; sixteen schools, 963 scholars. Population, 2708.-Official Returns, U. S. Gaz.

IV. MASSACHUSETTS.

MASSACHUSETTS is bounded on the north by Vermont and New Hampshire; on the east by the Atlantic; on the south by the Atlantic, Rhode Island, and Connecticut; and on the west by New York. This state lies between 40 deg. 23 min. and 43 deg. 52 min. north latitude, and 60 deg. 50 min. and 73 deg. 10 min. west longitude. It is 190 miles long and ninety broad. Its area is about 7500 square miles, or 4,800,000 acres. The population in 1790 was 333,727, in 1800, 422,845; in 1810, 472,040; in 1820, 523,287; in 1830, 610,408; in 1840, 737,699.—Official Returns for 1840.

The climate of this state is favourable to health, and about one in seven of the inhabitants live to seventy years of age. The extremes of temperature are from 20 degrees below to 100 degrees above zero; but such extremes are rare and of short continuance.

Massachusetts is divided into fourteen counties, viz., Suffolk, population, 95,773, C. Boston; Essex, population, 94,437, C. Salem, Crewbury Port, and Ipswich; Middlesex, population, 106,611, C. Cambridge and Concord; Worcester, population, 95,313, C. Worcester, 30,897, C. Northampton; Hampden, 37,366, C. Springfield; Franklin, 28,812, C. Greenfield; Berkshire, 41,745, C. Lenox; Bristol, 60, 164, C. New Bedford and Taunton; Plymouth, 47,373, C. Plymouth; Barnstable, 32,548, C. Barnstable; Dukes, 3958, C. Edgartown; Nantucket, 9012, C. Nantucket; Norfolk, 53,140, C. Dedham.-Official Returns for 1840.

On

The mountain or hilly ranges of Vermont and New Hampshire branch into parts of Massachusetts, crossing the western part of the state into Connecticut. East of these highlands, the lands are hilly and sterile, except in the southern districts, where the soil is level and sandy. the sea-coast the land is sterile and rocky, particularly in the south-east. The lands in the valleys of the Connecticut and Housatonic rivers are alluvial and fertile. Agriculture has been carefully and skilfully attended to in this state. No extensive or alluvial tracts occur in Massachusetts; although limited spots occur on the banks of most of the streams, and, with the adjoining elevated woodlands and pastures have, by skilful industry, been brought under profitable cultivation, and form the best farms in the state. There are numerous uncultivated swamps. The greater part of the soil of Massachusetts is diuvial and ungenerous. By clearing away the stones and rocks, and by the extensive application of manure, many of the originally sterile districts have been converted into productive farms.

The principal rivers are the Connecticut, which winds for about fifty miles in this state. Deerfield and Westfield rivers enter it from the west, and Miller's and Chickapee rivers from the east. The Housatonic rises in Berkshire county, in the western part of the state, and flows into the state of Connecticut. The Merrimac has a course of fifty miles in the north-east part of the state, and falls into the ocean at Newburyport. It is navigable for large vessels, fifteen miles up to Haverhill.

Massachusetts bay extends from Cape Ann on the north, forty miles, to Cape Cod on the south, and includes Boston and Cape Cod bays. Buzzard's bay, on the south shore of the state, is thirty miles in length. Boston harbour is one of the finest in the world, easy of entrance, safe and capacious, and easily and well defended. New Bedford, on Buzzard's bay, has a fine harbour. The other principal maritime towns are Salem, Newburyport, Gloucester, and Nantucket. The other principal towns are Lowell, Plymouth, Worcester, Springfield, Pittsfield, and Northampton.

There are several important islands off the south shore of Massachusetts. The largest is Nantucket, fifteen miles long and eleven broad. It constitutes a county of its own name. Martha's Vineyard, to the west of Nantucket, is twenty miles long, and from two to ten broad. This, with Elizabeth's Islands, in Buzzard's bay, and some other small islands, constitutes Duke's county.

EDUCATION.-Massachusetts has three colleges and two theological seminaries. Harvard Uni

versity, at Cambridge, is the oldest and best endowed institution of the kind in the United States, having been founded in 1638, eighteen years after the first tree was felled, and the first log house was erected in the wilderness by the Pilgrim Fathers of New England. Williams College, at Williamstown, in the north-east corner of the state, was founded in 1793, and is a flourishing institution. Amherst College was founded in 1821, and has had an unexampled growth, ranking with the first colleges in New England. The Theological Seminary, at Andover, is the best endowed, and one of the most flourishing institutions of the kind in the United States, and is under the direction of the Congregationalists. The Baptists, also, have a flourishing theological institution at Newton. All these institutions had, in 1840, 769 students. There were in the state, 251 academies and grammar schools, with 16,746 students; 3362 primary and common schools, with 160,257 scholars. There were 4448 persons over twenty years of age who could neither read nor write. These, as is the case in most of the states, are principally made up of foreign immigrants. By the last school abstract laid before the legislature, in 1843, the following facts appear : Number of common schools ....

3,198

185,058

133,448

159,056

dollars 579,190
309,007

dollars 888,197

The sum of 888,197 dollars for the education of children and youth, is independent of what is required to maintain students in the colleges. Massachusetts has also, exclusive of the above, a small school fund of 472,676 dollars, but which is increasing, and the interest is annually distributed among the school districts. There are also supported principally by the state, two Nrmal schools, designed to qualify teachers for common schools. One is exclusively for females, the other for both sexes. These schools were established as experiments, no institutions of the same kind having been tried in this country; and have satisfied all reasonable expectations. Teachers educated in these institutions have generally been found more efficient than such as are educated elsewhere; and hopes are entertained that the good example set by Massachusetts may be followed by other states of the union.

STATE INSTITUTIONS.-The Lunatic hospital at Worcester, was built by the state at an expense exceeding 100,000 dollars, and accommodates about 250 patients; but it has been found insufficient to accommodate all who apply. The state has accordingly authorised the erection of an additional building, sufficient to acommodate 150 more persons. This institution is maintained at an annual expense to the state of from 5000 to 12,000 dollars. The institution for the blind is maintained by the state, at an expense of from 8000 to 10,000 dollars annually, and the state contributes to the education of the deaf and dumb from 3000 to 5000 dollars annually; lesser grants of 2000 dollars a year to the Eye and Ear infirmary, and from 1000 to 2000 dollars as pensions or gratuities to old and wounded soldiers, or their widows. There are many other benevolent institutions.

RELIGION. The principal religious denominations are the Congregationalists, the Baptists, the Methodists, the Episcopalians, and the Universalists. In 1836, the Orthodox Congregationalists had about 350 churches, 320 ministers, and 50,000 communicants. The Unitarians had about 120 ministers; the Bapists had 129 churches, 160 ministers, and 20,200 communicants. The Episcopalians had one bishop and thirty-seven ministers; the Universalists had 100 congregations and forty-four ministers. Besides these, there are a few Presbyterians, Christians, Roman Catholics, and Friends, and some others.

COMMERCIAL ESTABLISHMENTS.-There were in 1840, 241 commercial and 123 commission houses engaged in foreign trade, employing a capital of 13,881,517 dollars; and 3625 retail drygoods and other stores, with a capital of 12,705,038 dollars! the lumber trade employed 3432 persons, and a capital of 1,022,360 dollars; internal transportation employed 799 persons, and with 480 butchers, packers, &c., employed a capital of 407,850 dollars; the fisheries employed 16,000 persons, and a capital 11,725,850 dollars.

By a return made to the legislature in 1840, for the purpose of rating the state valuation, it appears that 158,000 acres of the territory of Massachusetts were covered with water; 90,000 acres occupied by roads; 730,000 acres were woodland; 956,000 unimproved, and 360,000 acres unimprovable-while only 260,000 acres were under tillage, and 440,000 acres as meadows, or upland meadows; the remainder being either improved as pasturage, or fresh swamps or saltmarsh meadows. It appears by the census returns, that the number engaged in agriculture is 87,837; being in proportion 1 to 8.39 of the population, which is less than any other state in the union. When we consider that the soil of Massachusetts is comparatively sterile, and that only 11.91 per cent of her population are employed in agriculture, while in the whole population of the United States engaged in agriculture amount to 21.74 in the 100 of the whole population, it cannot be expected that the agricultural products of this state will, even with its improved cul

tivation, be equal to the average of all the states. The live stock and products of agriculture were, by the returns of 1840, as follows:

:

"Massachusetts," observes the Hon. Mr. Hudson, member of congress from the state," has no great staple, like the cotton of the south, or the wheat of the middle and western states. What she raises, she consumes at home; and she procures large supplies of some of these articles from her sister states, as we shall show hereafter. But, although Massachusetts is not distinguished for her agricultural products, the attention paid to agriculture has increased within a few years. The agricultural societies which have been established in the different counties, and which have enjoyed, to a small extent, the patronage of the government, have exerted a salutary influence. Several papers devoted to this subject are published within the commonwealth, and are well sustained. Within a few years, an agricultural and a geological survey of the state have been made by gentlemen well qualified for those purposes, who were appointed by the government, to which they made their reports. These reports, having for their object a development of the agricultural resources of the state, were published by the order of the legislature, and distributed in all parts of the commonwealth; and have contributed, with other causes, to give to the agriculture of the state a more scientific character. New systems of husbandry have been introduced-swamps, formerly useless, have been reclaimed-the nature of soils, and the kind of manure best adapted to each, are beginning to be better understood-an improved race of animals has been introduced or reared up, and great improvements have been made in most of the implements of husbandry; from all which, we infer that the cultivation of the soil in this ancient commonwealth will keep pace with the improvements of the age."

Among other measures passed by the legislature of the state, that of granting premiums for growing wheat, appear to us a great fallacy. We, on principle, object to bounties of every description, as no branch of industry has ever thriven by such artificial support, against permanent natural obstacles. Suppose we grant bounties, in England, for growing pine apples and grapes, will these delicious fruits afterwards become acclimated, so as to ripen in the same perfection in the open air? - Official Returns, U. S. Gaz., and various American authorities.

MANUFACTURES OF MASSACHUSETTS.

The first colonists of New England were compelled by necessity to turn their attention to some species of household manufacture, such as shoes and hats. As early as 1700, the people of Massachusetts having commenced manufacturing in their families coarse woollens for their own wear, and a mixed article of flax and wool, called linsey-woolsey, principally for women's wear. These articles were dyed with maple, walnut, butternut, and other kinds of bark, moss, and vegetables. Some attempts were made to manufacture other necessary articles; but the condition of the country, and the exclusive policy of the mother country, prevented any considerable progress being made in manufactures before the revolution.

The first cotton manufactory in the United States, was established by a company at Beverley, in Massachusetts, in 1788. On the following year, this company was incorporated. A periodical of the day, describing this factory, says, "that an experiment was made with a complete set of machines for carding and spinning cotton, which answered the warmest expectations of the proprietors. The spinning-jenny spins sixty threads at a time, and with the carding-machine forty pounds of cotton can be well carded in a day. The warping-machine, and the other tools and machinery, are complete, performing their various operations to great advantage, and promise much benefit to the public, and emolument to the patriotic adventurers." But this company soon abandoned the business as a corporate body, and it was carried on by individuals, who subsequently erected a mill for the purpose of spinning cotton by water; but the undertaking was not successful.

Soon after the establishment of the factory at Beverley, a more successful effort was made by Mr. Samuel Slater, who is called "the father of American manufactures," at Pawtucket. Cotton cloth was first made in the country, at this factory, by water-power machinery. The Newburyport woollen manufactory was incorporated in 1794, and the calico-printing manufactory, at the same place, in