“ The climate of Vermont is rigorous, but healthful and bracing. The summers are cool and generally pleasant. The winters are very severe and prolonged, with a heavy snowfall. Lake Champlain is generally frozen during February, though the climate on the lake shore is milder than in the rest of the State. At Burlington the normal mean temperature for January is 18°, and for July 70.4°. At Northfield, in the centre of the State, the mean is 15.5° for January and 66° for July. ”

“ Vast stone resources have long constituted an important source of wealth to the State. The marble quarries were the first to be extensively worked. The first quarry in the State was opened in 1785, and now Vermont produces two-thirds of the marble quarried in the United States. Proctor is noted for the largest marble quarry in the world. The marble of this section is said to be whiter and more durable than Carrara marble, which it is rapidly displacing for monumental purposes. ”

“ The superiority of the stone resources of the State has afforded a basis for the manufacture of monuments and tombstones and for the allied marble and stonework industries. Of the other industries, the more important are the manufacture of flour and grist-mill products, foundry and machine-shop products, woolen goods and hosiery, and knit goods. Burlington is the largest manufacturing centre. ”

“ Suffrage is granted to native or naturalized citizens of the United States who are twenty-one years of age, have resided one year within the State, and are of a ‘quiet and peaceable behavior.’ The registration of voters is required. ”

“ Potatoes are an important crop, and some barley and buckwheat are raised. The production of maple sugar and syrup in Vermont still receives much attention, and the State annually produces more maple sugar than any other State in the Union, and two-fifths that of the entire country. The production of apples is another important industry, the apple trees in 1900 numbering 1,675,131. ”

“ If an amendment receives a two-thirds vote of the Senate, and a majority vote of the House of Representatives, and a majority vote of each House of the next following General Assembly, it shall be submitted to a vote of the people, when a majority vote determines its final acceptance or rejection. The State sends two members to the National House of Representatives. ”

“ Before the population and wealth began to concentrate in towns the old district system afforded uniformity in school conditions; but as a result of this movement there is a great disparity in school advantages. Many rural schools are very small and have short terms. In 1893 there was a change from the district to the town system, and through better transportation facilities some improvement has been made in the rural schools. ”

“ The soil is to a great extent stony and of a poor quality, though in the valleys, and especially in the western lowlands, there is much land that is suitable for cultivation. The hills and valley-slopes, as well as the summits of the mountains, are covered with rich herbage, and there are large forests of pine and hemlock, with spruce and fir on the higher slopes. ”

“ There is a thriving wood-pulp industry, centring largely at Bellows Falls, on the Connecticut River, where it is favored by water power and adjacent forests.
Manufactures. Vermont is the least industrial of the New England States. There has been, however, a significant development of manufactures in recent years. The value of products in 1900, $57,646,715, was 50.4 per cent. greater than in 1890, and the capital invested, $48,547,964, had increased 48.2 per cent. during the same period. In 1900 there were 29,455 persons engaged as wage-earners, or 8.6 per cent. of the total population. ”

“ Under the town system the high schools have improved, and there has been a 50 per cent. increase in the attendance. The average duration of schools has latterly been above 150 days. In 1900 there were 84,720 children between the ages of five and eighteen, of whom 65,964 were enrolled, and 47,020 in average attendance. There were in that year 256 male and 2714 female teachers. The schools derive their main support from local funds and taxes, though some assistance is secured from a State school tax and a State school fund. ”

“ The most important group of industries are those which depend upon the forests for their raw materials. The great increase in dairying has been accompanied by a rapid development of the factory production of butter and condensed milk. ”

“ Population. The population grew from 85,425 in 1790 to 280,652 in 1830. Since that year the growth has been very slow, the number being, in 1890, 332,422, and in 1900, 343,641. The State ranked twelfth in population in 1790, twenty-first in 1840, and fortieth in 1900. There has been a large influx of foreigners. The foreign-born, in 1900, numbered 44,747, of whom 25,540 were Canadians. Vermont has the smallest percentage of urban population of any of the North Atlantic States. Burlington, the largest city, had, in 1900, 18,640 inhabitants ”

“ It lies between latitudes 42° 44′ and 45° 3′ north, longitudes 71° 30′ and 73° 25′ west, and is bounded on the north by the Canadian Province of Quebec, on the east by the State of New Hampshire, on the south by Massachusetts, and on the west by New York. The entire eastern boundary is formed by the Connecticut River, and more than half of the western boundary by Lake Champlain, most of the islands in that lake, including Grand and La Motte islands and the peninsula projecting southward from Canada, belonging to Vermont. ”