hatchery at Roxbury and a forest and game farm at Sharon. There
are Federal hatcheries at Swanton (for pike perch and yellow perch)
and at Holden (for trout).
Flora.—Vermont (vert mont), the Green Mountain State, was so named from the evergreen forests of its mountains, whose principal trees are spruce and fir on the upper slopes and white pine and hemlock on the lower. Among deciduous trees the state is noted for its sugar maples; birch and beech are common on the hills, and oaks, elm, hickory, ash, poplar, basswood, willow, chestnut and butternut on the less elevated areas. Among indigenous fruit-bearing trees, shrubs, vines and plants are the plum, cherry, grape, blackberry, raspberry, cranberry and strawberry. A few of the medicinal plants are ginseng, pleurisy root, snake root, blood root, blue flag and marshmallow. Orchids are very prominent among a great variety of flowering plants. Along the shore of Lake Champlain are a few species of maritime plants that remain from the time when portions of western Vermont were covered by the sea, and on the upper slopes of some of the higher mountains are a few Alpine species; these, however, are much less numerous on the Green Mountains of Vermont than on the White Mountains of New Hampshire. The state's lumber trade was important until 1890, when the white pine was nearly exhausted, although there were still spruce and hemlock.
Climate.—The state usually has long and severe winters and cool summers, but sudden changes of temperature are common at all seasons. The mean temperature for January, the coldest month, is only 17° F.; for the three winter months it is 19° F., and for the five months from November to March inclusive it is 24.3° F. For July, the warmest month, the mean temperature is 68° F.; for the entire year it is 43° F. Extremes of temperature have ranged from -36° F. at Woodstock, Windsor county, in February 1896 to 97° F. at Cornwall, Addison county, in June 1901. The eastern section of the state is colder than the western, and the central or most mountainous section is still colder; for example, the mean annual temperature of Burlington, on Lake Champlain, is 46° F., while that of Saint Johnsbury, a little farther S. and near the E. border, is only 42° F., and that of Northfield, still farther S. but in the middle section, is only 41° F. The mean annual precipitation for the entire state is about 38.5 in.; more rain falls in summer than in any other season, and more falls in the southern section than in the northern. The average annual fall of snow throughout the state is about 90 in., but at Jacksonville near the S. border it often exceeds 110 in. More snow falls in February than in any other month. In the Connecticut and Hudson-Champlain valleys the winds blow mostly from either the N. or the S., but in several of the smaller valleys the prevailing winds are from the N.W.
Soil.—The soil is for the most part glacial drift, composed of clay, sand and gravel, and varying greatly in depth. On the higher elevations it is generally stony and sterile, but in the valleys and on many of the lower hills, where it consists largely of clay and sand, it is quite productive. The best soils are in the west section, where limestone clays or shell marls are common.
Forests.—Vermont was heavily forested with white pine, spruce and hemlock, and, in the southern part of the state and along the shore of Lake Champlain, with some hard woods. The white pine had been much cut off by 1890 and it is no longer commercially important. The woodland area of the state in 1900 was estimated to be 3900 sq. m., about 43% of the land area of the state.
Fisheries.—Lake Champlain furnishes the only commericcial
fishing grounds in Vermont, with the exceptions of small catches of
white fish in Lake Bomoseen, Lake St Catherine in Rutland county
and Lake Memphremagog. The total catch in 1895 was 208,139 lb,
valued at $7160, and in 1902 was 528,682 lb, valued at $37,669.
The capital invested in fisheries in 1902 was $9417, and the number
of men employed, 145. The most valuable fish taken was wall-eyed
pike, and the catch of this fish and of pickerel from Lake
Champlain in 1902 exceeded in value that from any other body of
fresh water in the United States excepting Lake Huron and Lake
Erie. The wall-eyed pike taken in 1902 were valued at $16,915
(210,936 lb); white fish, $5777 (80,191 lb); pickerel, $4144
(51,711 lb); yellow perch, $2575 (43,917 lb); sturgeon, $2051
(15,590 lb), and suckers, $1854 (37,375 lb); other varieties taken in
smaller quantities included smelt, sun-fish and eels.
Agriculture.—Vermont is largely an agricultural state; in 1900, out of a total of 134,933 persons engaged in gainful occupations, 49,820 were engaged in agriculture, 36,180 in manufacturing and mechanical pursuits, 23,028 in domestic and personal service, 18,889 in trade and transportation, and 7016 in professional service; and of a total land area of 9124 sq. m., 7382 sq. m. (4,724,400 acres) were included in farms. The percentage of improved farm land, as in Maine, New York and Pennsylvania, increased from 1850 until 1890 and decreased after 1890; and in 1900 out of a total acreage of 4,724,400 acres only 2,126,624 acres (45%) were improved. Of the 33,104 farms in the state in 1900, 25,982 were farmed by their owners, 1373 by part owners, 314 by owners and tenants, 2424 by cash tenants, 2396 by share tenants, and 615 by managers; 637 farms had more than 500 acres, 3431 were between 260 and 500 acres, 5512 between 175 and 260 acres, 10,215 between 100 and 175 acres, 6513 between 50 and 100 acres, 3511 between 20 and 50 acres, and 3285 less than 20 acres; and dairy produce was the principal source of income of more than one-half of these (16,700), live stock the principal source of income of 7323 farms, and hay and grain of 2519 farms. The general sterility of the soil except along rivers and the bases of hills has made intensive cultivation always necessary, and the competition of new and rich western farm lands has made the agriculture of Vermont develop further toward specialization in dairying and raising live stock. In 1910 there were 495,000 neat cattle (285,000 milch cows), 94,000 horses (average value, $106), 229,600 sheep and 95,000 swine. The horses of Vermont have been famous in the development of American racing stocks; the Morgan stock is best known, and other famous Vermont strains are Messenger and Black Hawk. Hay and forage are the most important crops, and Vermont grasses for grazing have been favourably known since the close of the 18th century. In 1909 on 879,000 acres a crop of hay (excluding forage) was raised valued at $16,155,000. The cereals are relatively unimportant. The largest cereal crop is oats, of which, in 1909, 2,608,000 bushels (valued at $1,304,000) were produced on 81,000 acres.
Mines and Quarries.—The principal mineral resource of Vermont is its building and monumental stone, including marble and granite and a small amount of limestone. The value of the total amount of stone produced in 1908 in Vermont was $7,152,624. Vermont marble is the best and most plentiful in the United States. It has been quarried since 1785; marble monuments were first manufactured about 1808; and at South Dorset in 1818 marble seems first to have been sawed in blocks, the earlier method having been chiselling. It is found generally throughout the western part of the state. The principal supply is in West Rutland, Proctor and Pittsford; this, the “Rutland marble,” is a duller, less lustrous white, and of a greater durability than the Carrara marble, and is used largely for monuments and statuary. There are other large quarries at Dorset and East Dorset, Bennington county; the finest marbles from this region are the white, slightly marked with pale brown and with greenish lines; they are commonly used for building, the Harvard Medical School and the office of the U.S. Senate being examples. At Rutland, Proctor and Dorset many darker shades are found, including “moss vein,” olive green and various shades of blue, green, yellow and pink, which are used for ornamental purposes. There are important quarries in Franklin county (at Swanton), the stone being a dark Chazy limestone, in which pink and red (“jasper,” “lyonnaise” and “royal red”) marbles of Cambrian age are found. At Monkton, Addison county, there is a quarry from which other red marbles are taken; and at Roxbury, Washington county, a fine serpentine, called “green marble,” or verde antique, is quarried. On Isle La Motte, Grand Isle county, there are marble quarries, the characteristic colours of the marble being “Fisk black” and “Fisk grey.” The output of marble in 1908 was valued at $4,679,960 (out of a total of $7,733,920 for the entire production of marble in the United States). Only less important and only less early to be established in Vermont was the quarrying of granite, which began in 1812, but which has been developed chiefly since 1880, largely by means of the building of “granite railroads” which connect each quarry with a main railway line—a means of transportation as important as the logging railways of the Western states and of Canada. The largest granite quarries are near Barre, Washington county, a city which owes its importance to the quarries. The Barre granites, like those of Woodbury and Calais (also in Washington county) and part of those of South Ryegate, Kirby and Newark (Caledonia county), are of the biotite type; they are grey, except the stone from Newark, which is pinkish. Of the quartz-monzonite type are the whitish granites of Bethel and Rochester (Windsor county) and Randolph (Orange county), the light grey of Dummerston (Windham county), and the darker greys of Cabot (Washington county), Derby (Orleans county), Hardwick and Groton (Caledonia county) and Topsham (Orange county). The olive green syenite found on Mount Ascutney, near the Connecticut river, in Windsor county, is a hornblende-augite. Other important granite quarries are near Williamstown, Dummerston, Berlin and Woodbury. The total value of the output of granite in the state in 1908 was $2,451,933. In 1908 the output of limestone was valued at $20,731; there are limestone quarries in Washington and Orange counties and on Isle La Motte. Slate-quarrying and cutting is carried on in the south-western part of the state, in Rutland county; there are important quarries at Fair Haven, Poultney, Castleton, Wells and Pawlet. In Washington county there are quarries near Northfield. The industry began about 1840, though one quarry had been opened as early as 1805. There are two green varieties, called in the trade “sea-green” and “unfading green,” the former being used for a cheap roofing slate; and there are purplish varieties. In 1908 the value of slate produced was $1,710,491 (out of a total production for the United States of $6,316,817).
Manufactures.—The first important industry of the state was “rafting” lumber from Vermont through Lake Champlain and the Richelieu and St Lawrence rivers to Quebec. Burlington became a great lumber market for a trade moving in the direction of Boston after the Richelieu river was blocked to navigation and railway transportation began, and in 1882 Burlington was the third lumber
