Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 24.djvu/187

Rh VERMONT 167 merate. The limestone is often arenaceous and dolomitic, sometimes magnesian. There are great masses of reddish, silicious limestone, the Red Sandrock of geologists, which, often destitute of fossils, contains here and there species of Ptychoparia, Olenellus, Orthisina, Obolus, Salterella, &c. Included in these beds are thick layers of a beautifully mottled red and white dolomite, the &quot;Winooski marble,&quot; long used for architectural purposes. Similar fossils occur in the &quot;Georgia shales&quot; and elsewhere. Above the Cambrian are small patches of Calciferous and Quebec, then larger areas of Chazy, Trenton, Utica, ajid Hudson River. In the Chazy and Trenton there are extensive quarries upon Isle la Motte, and these formations are finely exhibited in many localities near the lake. The rocks are mostly limestones and shales of a black or dark grey colour, and frequently afford Silurian fossils in great abundance. Within a few miles of Lake Champlain the sedimentary rocks are replaced by schists, quartzites, and other meta- morphic rocks, which continue beyond the mountains to Connecticut river. In the southern part of Vermont there are Lower Helderberg strata, and in the northern, about Lake Memphremagog, Upper Helderberg. These occupy but limited areas and are unconformable with the under lying rocks. Rev. A. Wing determined the age of the great marble beds of Rutland county to be mostly, if not wholly, of the Chazy epoch. He then extended his obser vations to the rocks of the Green Mountain mass; and by means of the results thus gained, as well as by his own long-continued independent researches, Prof. J. D. Dana seems to have substantially settled the age of the rocks which compose the mountains as Lower Silurian, and shown that the uplift ending in the range took place after the close of the Hudson River and before the Helderberg period. In the Champlain valley the rocks are traversed by dykes of trap and porphyry, which in some instances have spread over the strata. In the Utica and Hudson River shales there is most beautiful veining : innumerable seams of white calcite, from the finest line to several inches in width, cross and recross the black strata in every direction. In a narrow strip from Canada to Bennington there are Tertiary beds, which are well seen at Brandon. In this formation there are great masses of lignite, containing fossil fruits, also bog iron, manganese, kaolin, and vari ously and often brightly coloured clays. The entire sur face of Vermont shows the effects of glaciation. Some of the Silurian ledges are striated and polished most beauti fully. Drift, boulders, sands, clays occur everywhere ; every stream is bordered by terraces ; remains of mam moth, mastodon, beluga, are found in the drift deposits, as well as Mya, Saxicava, Mytilus, and other marine M olluKca. Sea-beaches over 2000 feet and terraces over 1000 feet above the present sea-level testify to movements of the surface. From the early Cambrian to the late Quaternary epoch Lake Champlain was an arm of the sea, and for a portion of this time it was connected with the ocean at each end, so that a current flowed from what is now New York Bay to St Lawrence Gulf, converting New England into an island. Minerals. Ores of copper, silver, lead, gold, manganese, and iron occur ; but, although numerous attempts at mining have been made, very few have continued or ever been profitable. A large amount of copper is obtained at the Ely mines, where the ore is chalco-pyrite ; and gold has been found in paying quantity in river gravel, and also in veins, and is still sought in one or two places. The chief mineral wealth of the State is in its quarries. No other State in the Union produces so great a variety or quantity of marble. The annual pro duction is nearly 2,000,000 cubic feet, and is increasing. Roofing and other slate is obtained in very large quantities and of fine quality. Most excellent granite is quarried in increasing amount, and there are large beds of soap-stone, which are worked. Besides what may be called useful minerals, the State affords a large variety of species, e.g., rutile, actinolite, talc, serpentine, which are of interest to the mineralogist. The State has many mineral springs, some of which have long been places of popular resort. Host of them are sulphurous, some cha-lybeate, carbonate, or alkaline. The climate of Vermont, like that of New England generally, is Climate, subject to extremes and to sudden changes. In summer the tem perature varies from 65 to 75 Fahr. , sometimes rising to 90 ; in winter it ranges from 18 to 50, sometimes falling to - 10 or rarely - 20. At Burlington the mean annual temperature is 45. The climate is milder in the Champlain valley than east of the Green Mountains. During the winter there is often much snow, which in the colder parts of the State covers the ground for three months. The average annual rainfall is 33 inches. The air is clear and pure. Notwithstanding the changeable climate, the death-rate is low and the people robust. Most of the large mammals formerly common, the panther, Fauna, wolf, lynx, beaver, otter, moose, have either disappeared or are very rare ; others, as the black bear, red deer, mink, and marten, are found only in certain localities. More common are the red fox, raccoon, skunk, porcupine, woodchnck, rabbit, squirrel, and other smaller species. Birds have changed less ; but the wild turkey, golden eagle, raven, &c. , have become very rare, and the white- headed eagle, large hawks, owls, herons, bitterns, and the like are far from common. The lakes are visited at certain seasons by great numbers of ducks, geese, and other water-fowl. Thrushes, blue birds, titmice, sparrows, swallows, warblers, vireos, blackbirds, crows, and woodpeckers are common, as well as many other small birds. In Lake Champlain and the large streams which flow into it are found sturgeon, garpike, muskalonge, bass, pike, pickerel, shad, as well as many smaller species. Trout abound in the moun tain streams and in some of the ponds. Reptiles and batrachians are not numerous either in species or individuals. The flora is of great beauty and of unusual botanical interest. Flora. Saxifraga Aizoon, Poa laxa, Arcnaria grcenlandica, and other alpine plants are found on the higher mountains. Lathyms mari- timus, Hudsonia tomentosa, and other maritime species recall the time when Lake Champlain was salt. A number of western species find their eastern limit in the Champlain valley, and a greater number of Canadian plants have ended their southward migrations in northern Vermont. Over 1300 species of phanerogams and higher cryptogams grow wild in the State. About 50 of these are found nowhere else in New England, and a few nowhere else in the United States. Ferns grow luxuriantly in many mountain forests and ravines, where 50 species may be collected, including such very rare forms as Asplenium viride, Pelliea gracilis, Woodsia glabella and hyperborea, Aspidium Braunii, &c. Orchids are also abund ant. Of the 108 families found in the State the most numerous are the ranunculus, saxifrage, rose, composite, heath, lily, grass, and sedge. The once prevalent forests are now chiefly confined to the mountains. There are nearly 100 species of trees and large shrubs ; the forests and groves consist chiefly of 11 species of oak, 6 of maple, 17 of willow, 6 of birch, 8 of poplar, 3 of elm, 17 of conifers, besides beech, ash, walnut, butternut, &c. No single species forms so characteristic a feature of the landscape as the American elm, which with great variety of form, always elegant and beautiful, grows singly or in small groups in every meadow and upon many uplands. The sugar maple is a common and conspicuous tree. (G. H. P.) The population was estimated in 1777 at 30,000. The first cen- Popula- sus taken, in 1791, gave 85,425. The different enumerations from tion. 1800 to 1880 inclusive have been as follows : 154,465 ; 217,895 ; 235,966 ; 280,652 ; 291,948 ; 314,120 ; 315,098 ; 330,551 ; 332,286. The very slight gain in the decades succeeding 1850 is accounted for by the large emigration from Vermont to the western portions of the country. Of the total population in 1880 291,327 were natives and 40,959 foreign -born. Of the latter class British America furnished the largest contingent, 24,620 ; Ireland 11,657 ; other parts of Great Britain 3773. The number of coloured was 1057 ; the excess of males over females 1488. The number gathered in towns of from 4000 to 12,000 inhabitants was 37,800. The largest towns are Rutland, 12,149 (in 1886 two new towns were formed from it) ; Burlington, 11,365 ; St Albans, 7193 ; Benning ton, 6333; Brattleboro, 5880 ; St Johnsbury, 5800. Montpelier, the capital, has 3219. The average density of population is 36 4 per square mile. The insane numbered 1015 ; idiotic, 803 ; blind, 486 ; paupers, 1564 ; inmates of prisons and reformatories, 2(51. The births in 1885 were 6592, or 22 1 per 1000 of population, and the deaths 5358 (average age as reported, 4T95 years ; percentage of deaths to population, 1 61). The number of divorces in 1860 was 94, one to every 23 marriages ; in 1880 the number was 129 (one to 20 marriages); and in 1885 it was 94 (one to 287 marriages). Agriculture is the chief occupation of the State. The 35, 522 A^ricuJ- farms make up a total of 4,882,588 acres, of which 3,286,461 are im- ture. proved land. The western portion of the State contains the finest tracts of arable land ; the climate as well as the soil of the Champlain valley is especially adapted to fruit-raising, the surface of the lake being but 90 feet above sea-level. The average size of farms iir Vermont is 137 acres ; the total estimated value of the farms in 1880 was 8109,346,010, and of the total products in 1879 $22,082,656. Subjoined are the figures relating to the leading crops: wheat,