Page:Maury's New Elements of Geography, 1907.djvu/49

Rh The White mountains are the highest in New England. They are famous for their beautiful scenery, and are often visited by travelers.

2. Climate.—The winters of New England are long and very cold.



Many of the rivers, lakes, and ponds are frozen over, sometimes to the depth of two or three feet. Large quantities of ice are gathered. This is stored away until summer, when it is used at home or shipped to the warmer parts of our own country.

Maine is famed for its ice crop.

3. Productions.—Among the mineral products of New England, the granite of Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine, and Connecticut, and the marble of Vermont are widely known.

The New England farms are small, but produce a great variety of crops. The chief products are potatoes, hay, oats, corn, and fruits. Wheat is raised, but not enough to supply the wants of New England itself.

Immense quantities of the potatoes grown are used for the manufacture of starch.



The horses, cattle, and sheep that pasture on the grassy hillsides of Vermont are famous. The butter and cheese made in this state are among the very best.



4. Maple Sugar.—An interesting thing done by some of the farmers is the making of maple sugar.

In the spring the sap or juice of trees begins to rise. The farmers bore holes in the trunks of the sugar-maple trees, put in little tubes of wood, and catch the sap in pails placed to receive it. The sap is then poured into large iron kettles and boiled. A large part of the water is boiled away, and the sap becomes syrup. More boiling turns the syrup into sugar.



5. Lumbering.—There are great forests in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, where many people are employed during the winter months in what is called lumbering.

The lumbermen go into the forests and live in log cabins. They cut down the trees and haul the logs over the snow to the banks of the frozen streams. When spring comes and the ice melts,