appropriated to pay off the state debt. They are now supported by an annual appropriation and district taxation. The Vermont Asylum for the Insane, at Brattleboro', is an institution of great value, and in August 1849 had under treatment 448 patients. Up to that date 1459 had been treated, of which 666, or 58.4 per cent., were recovered. The average charge for patients is $100 per annum. The deaf and dumb of this state are educated at Hartford, Connecticut, at the American Asylum. The State Prison is self-supporting, and during the year ending Sept. 1849 it received 34 convicts, only one of whom was a female.

The religious denominations having the largest numbers, are the Baptists, Congregationalists, and Methodists. Roman Catholics and Protestant Episcopalians, are also numerous, and there are several churches belonging to the minor sectaries, as Unitarians, &c. The following table exhibits the statistics of the condition of each denomination in 1850.

The Roman Catholics are under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Boston, and the Protestant Episcopalians under that of the Bishop of Vermont, whose diocese is co-terminous with the state.

The State of Vermont was first settled at Fort Dummer, by emigrants from Massachusetts. From 1741 to 1764, New-Hampshire claimed the territory of Vermont, and made several grants of land therein. New-York also claimed the territory, and obtained a grant from Parliament, in the year 1764. At the commencement of the revolution, Vermont declared itself independent, yet, on account of the conflicting claims of New-York and New Hampshire, the Congress feared to admit it into the Union as a separate independency. In this state of affairs, the British were in the hopes of detaching Vermont from the revolting states, but she was true to herself through all her difficulties: the Green Mountain boys," as they were called, were found among the foremost in repelling the common enemy, and all attempts, either to persuade or coerce her into allegiance to the crown, proved abortive. In 1790, a treaty was made, by which New-York relinquished her claim to the territory, receiving a consideration of $30,000, and in the following year Vermont was admitted to full fellowship as an independent member of the United States.

The present constitution was framed in 1793, but has since been amended. The government consists of a governor, executive council, senate and assembly, all chosen annually by the people. The senate consists of 30 members, and the assembly of one member from each town. Every adult male citizen, of quiet and peaceable behavior, may vote. The executive committee, which has 12 councillors, are elected annually, and have a co-ordinate jurisdiction with the governor, who cannot act without their consent. The provisions of the constitution, in regard to negroes and aliens, are liberal and just. Once in seven years a "council of censors" is appointed, whose duty it is to inquire whether the constitution has been preserved inviolate, and whether the executive and legislative branches have performed their duties as guardians of the commonwealth; whether taxes have been justly laid and collected, the public moneys properly disposed of, and the laws duly executed."

The judiciary powers are vested in a Supreme Court, consisting of six judges; in County Courts or Courts of Common Pleas, comprising six cir

cuits, each County Court being composed of one judge of the Supreme Court, who is ex officio chief justice of the County Courts of his circuit, and two assistant judges for each county, and in Justices of the Peace. All the judges and justices are chosen annually by the legislature.

The finances of the state are in a very flourishing condition; the receipts for the fiscal year ending Sept. 1st, 1849, were $119,386, and the expenditures, $111,056. The principal income is from taxes, which amounted, in 1849, to $87,135.

MONTPELIER, the state capital, is situated at the union of the branches of the Onion or Winooski River, in latitude 44° 16' N., and longitude 71° 32′ W. Its site is a plain of moderate extent, surrounded by elevated hills. The great road from Boston to Burlington passes through the town and makes it a great thoroughfare. It contains a beautiful state-house, a court-house, jail, several churches, 15 stores, several mills and manufactories, and about 4,000 inhabitants. The state-house is built of granite, 72 feet wide in the centre, with two wings, and is each 39 feet, making a whole length of 130 feet. It has a projecting portico in the centre of six Doric columns, 6 feet in diameter and 36 feet high. The centre building is 100 feet deep, and the wings 50 feet deep. The whole is surmounted by a fine dome, 100 feet high from the ground to the top. In the interior are rooms for various offices, and elegant halls for the senate and representatives. Its architecture is much admired.

BURLINGTON, on Lake Champlain, is the largest city within the state. Lat. 44° 27' N. and long. 73° 10' W. It is built on a fine bay, which sets up between two points on the east side of the lake and forms a regular curve. Near the centre of the town is the public square, on which the court-house is built, and which is surrounded by brick stores and the principal hotels. It contains many neat and some splendid dwellings, surrounded with shrubbery, and generally having fine gardens in the rear. Some of the public buildings are spacious and elegant, the churches especially are beautiful specimens of architecture. The harbor of Burlington is the best on the lake, and is of easy access. It has been much improved by the government, which has erected a noble breakwater to protect it from the west winds. Steamboats stop here daily on their way from Whitehall to St. John's. A steam ferry-boat crosses at this place to Fort Kent, on the opposite side of the lake, to Plattsburg. The university of Vermont is located here. About a mile and a half north-east is the flourishing manufacturing village of Winooski, on Onion River. The river here has a fall of 20 feet, nearly perpendicular, which affords a great water-power, easily available. The first settlement in Burlington was made after the peace of 1783, and it was first organized in 1787. Population 5,211.

The other principal towns are St. Alban's, Swanton, Vergennes, in the lake; Middlebury, the seat of a college; Pittsford, Rutland, Manchester, Bennington, Newbury; Brattleboro' which contains the state lunatic asylum; Rockingham, Windsor, Woodstock; Norwich, the seat of a university, and Danville.

THE STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS.

MASSACHUSETTS, the parent state of New-England, and the chief manufacturing district of the United States, is bounded on the north by Vermont and New-Hampshire; east by the Atlantic; south by the Atlantic, Rhode Island and Connecticut; and west by the State of New-York. It lies between 41° 23′ and 42° 52′ N. latitude, and the meridians of 69° 50′ and 73° 30′ W. longitude. It is about 190 miles long from east to west, with an average breadth of 90 miles, and contains about 7,500 square miles, or 4,800,000 acres.

The face of the country is diversified. There are several ranges of mountains in the western part of the state, continued from Vermont and New-Hampshire, and running across the state into Connecticut. The first is the Taghkanic range, which may be regarded as a branch of the Green Mountains. It leaves the range at Williamstown, in the north-west corner of the state, and traversing the county of Berkshire, divides the waters of the Hudson from those of the Housatonic, and passes into Connecticut. The second is the Green Mountain range, which runs on the east side of the Housatonic, and pursues a course east of south, between the waters of the Housatonic and those of the Connecticut. The third is the Mount Tom range, which commences in New-Hampshire, and running south-west, crosses Connecticut River at Northampton, and then proceeds in a southerly course on the west side of the river. The Lyme range leaves Mount Tom range, about ten miles east of Northampton, and proceeds in a southerly course on the east side of Connecticut River. The part of the state east of these mountains is hilly, except in the south-eastern counties, where it is level and sandy. On the sea-coast the land is generally poor, particularly in the south-east. The rest of the state has generally a strong good soil, well adapted to grazing and grain. The valleys of the Connecticut and the Housatonic, especially, have a fine soil, and embrace many flourishing and pleasant towns. The improvements in agriculture made in this. state are highly respectable and laudable. The farms around Boston are literally gardens, from which the capital is supplied with the finest fruit and vegetables. The principal agricultural productions are grass, Indian corn, rye, wheat, oats, and potatoes. Apples are abundant, and large quantities of cider are made annually. Beef, pork, butter and cheese are also abundant and of excellent quality. Among the mineral products are iron ore, which is found in large quantities in Bristol and Plymouth; and marble, quarries of which have been opened in Stockbridge and other towns of Berkshire county. At Chelmsford and Quincy great quantities of beautiful granite are found, which is much used for building in Boston and NewYork.

The greatest elevation in Massachusetts is Saddle Mountain, on the Taghkanic range, 4,000 feet high. Mount Holyoke, near Northampton, is more than 1,200 feet, and Wachussett mountain, in Princeton, is an isolated summit, from 2 to 3,000 feet above the level of the sea.

The county of Barnstable is a peninsula, commonly called the peninsula of Cape Cod. Its shape is that of a man's arm bent inwards both at the elbow and the wrist. A great part of this peninsula is sandy and barren, and in many places wholly destitute of vegetation; yet it is populous. The inhabitants derive their support almost entirely from the ocean; the men being constantly employed at sea, and the boys at a very early age being

put on board the fishing boats. In consequence of the violent east winds, it is supposed that the cape is gradually wearing away. Nantucket Island lies south of Cape Cod. It is fifteen miles long, and contains about fifty square miles. The soil is light and sandy, but in some parts rich and productive, particularly in hay. The inhabitants are principally of the denomination of Friends. The men are generally robust, enterprising seamen, extensively engaged in the whale fishery, and are as skilful and adventurous as any in the world. To the south-east of this island are the Nantucket shoals, where many vessels have been shipwrecked. They extend about fifty miles in length and forty-five in breadth. Martha's Vineyard lies west of Nantucket. It is twenty miles long, and from two to ten broad. There is a spacious harbor on the north side of the island, called Holmes' Hole. Vessels bound to Boston or the eastward are frequently seen here in great numbers, waiting for a wind to enable them to double Cape Cod. It is calculated that more than 1000 vessels anchor here in the course of a year. Elizabeth Islands are small islands, extending in a row about eighteen miles in length, along the south-east side of Buzzard's Bay. Plum Island extends

along the coast from Newburyport, south, to Ipswich. It is nine miles long and one broad, and is separated from the main land by a narrow sound, over which a bridge has been built. In the season, when plums are ripe, this island is the resort of the neighboring inhabitants, and a scene of lively amusement. The principal capes are Cape Ann and Cape Cod, on each side of Massachusetts Bay; Cape Malabar, at the south-east extremity of the peninsula of Cape Cod; Sandy Point, on the north side of Nantucket Island; and Gay Head, at the western extremity of Martha's Vineyard.

Connecticut River crosses the western part of the state from north to south, intersecting the counties of Franklin, Hampshire and Hampden, and passes into Connecticut. The Merrimack comes from New-Hampshire, and running north-east, empties at Newburyport. Ipswich River is a small stream which falls into Ipswich harbor, at the south end of Plum Island. Charles River falls into Boston harbor, between Boston and Charlestown. Neponset River falls into Boston harbor on the south side of the town. Taunton River rises in Plymouth county, and runs southwest into Narragansett Bay. It is navigable for vessels twenty miles, to Taunton. The principal branches of the Merrimack are the Concord and Nashua Rivers. The principal branches of the Connecticut are Miller's River and the Chicapee from the east, and Deerfield and Westfield from the west. The Housatonic rises in the northern part of Berkshire county, and flows south in the State of Connecticut.

Massachusetts Bay, that gives name to the state, which is often called the Bay State, extends from Cape Ann on the north, 40 miles, to Cape Cod on the south, and includes Boston and Cape Cod Bays. Buzzard's Bay, on the south shore, is 30 miles in length. Boston Harbor is one of the finest in the world: capacious, safe, easy of entrance, and easily defended, but in the winter season is often ice-bound. New-Bedford, on Buzzard's Bay, has a fine harbor.

The climate of Massachusetts differs little from that of the New- England States in general. On the coast, and within the range of sea-influ ence, it is much more equable and mild than in the interior, but is subject to fogs. The severe cold of winter is only of short duration, and that season can scarcely be said to be set in before December. The harbors, however, are frequently closed by ice for several weeks together. In the interior the rivers are usually frozen over for weeks at a time, and the roads are blocked up with snow. The reign of winter terminates with March,

although sometimes prolonged far into April. It is succeeded by a season of rapid vegetation, and by the middle of June, the summer season, which is as hit and Sultry as in Florida, has fairly commenced. The heat of July an i August is cft u excessive, but the nights are cool, and for a great part of the time the air is tenperate, clear, and elastic. The sea breezes prevail in th sesti n in winter, bringing cold, sleety weather, but in summer a Iness that gratefully relieves the heats. Rain falls on the average a' ut 60 days in the year, and in amount varies from 46 to 52 inches. The en donde diseases of the climate are affections of the lungs; but consumption is not more prevalent than in other parts,

The state is divided into 14 counties, and in 1850 contained a popula tion of 994,499 inha' itants. The distribution of these into the several ounties was in the following proportions:

The total number of dwellings in the state, in 1850, was 152,359, and of families 191,243, or in the ratio of 6.5 persons to each dwelling, and 5.2 persons to each family; and the relative proportion of dwellings and families was as 1 to 1.26. The deaths amounted to 19,485, exhibiting a ratio of mortality equal to 1.96 per cent., or 1 death to every 50.9 inhabitants. The density of the population in Massachusetts is 1 person to every 4.9 acres.

The industrial employments of Massachusetts permeate every branch of national industry, but manufactures, agriculture, and commerce give support to a great majority of the people. Its ever-increasing ratio of popu lation is a true index to its prosperity. Agriculture alone employs about two-fifths of the whole number of inhabitants. This branch is pursued with increasing energy; and the aid it has had from the establishment of agri