New Hampshire

NEW HAMPSHIRE, popularly known as the "Granite State," is one of the New England group of the United States of America and one of the original thirteen. The State lies between 40' and 45° 18' 23" N., and between 70° 37' and 37' W. It is bounded north by the Canadian province of Quebec; east by Maine, by the Salmon Falls river, which separates it in part from Maine and by the Atlantic ocean ; south-east and south by Massachusetts; west and north-west by Vermont (from which it is separated by the Connecticut river—low orate: mark on the west bank of the Connecticut is New Hampshire's west bound ary), and by Halls Stream which separates it from Quebec. The State has an area of sq•m., of which 310 sq.m. are water surface.

Physical Features.

In the north central portion of the State, the White mountains, a continuation of the Appalachian system, rise abruptly in several short ranges and in outlying mountain masses from a base level of 700 to 1,500 ft. The highest, Mount Washington, attains an elevation of 6,293 feet. The principal ranges, the Presidential, the Franconia and the Carter-Moriah, have a north-eastern and south-western trend. The Presidential, in the north-eastern part of the region, is separated from the Franconia on the south-west by the Crawford or White Mountain Notch, about 2,000 ft. in depth, in which the Ammonoosuc and Saco rivers find a passage, and from the Carter-Moriah, parallel to it on the east, by the Glen-Ellis and Peabody rivers, the former noted for its beautiful falls. On the Presidential range, which is about 20 m. in length, are Mount Washington and nine other peaks exceeding 5,000 ft. in height. On the Franconia, a much shorter range, are Mount Lafayette, 5,269 ft.; Mount Lincoln, 5,o98 ft.; and four others exceeding 4,000 feet. The highest peak on the Carter-Moriah range is Carter Dome, 4,86o ft.; but seven others exceed 4,000 feet. Separating Franconia and Pemigewasset ranges is the romantic Franconia Notch, overlooking which from the upper cliffs of Profile mountain is The Great Stone Face, immortalized by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

The part of the State which lies north of the White mountains is occupied by ridges and wide rolling valleys, the ridges rising occasionally to heights of 2,000 ft. or more. South of the moun tains a plateau-like surface—a part of the New England uplands— extends from the intervales of the Connecticut river to the eastern border of the Merrimac valley. Between the Merrimac valley and the sea is the only low surface in the State; a considerable por tion of this region is less than 500 ft. above the sea. The seashore, about IS m. in length, is mainly a low sandy beach. The only har bour is at Portsmouth near the mouth of the Piscataqua. About 9 m. from the shore are the bleak and nearly barren Isles of Shoals, divided between New Hampshire and Maine.

The lakes and ponds, numbering several hundred, were formed by glacial action and the scenery of many of them is scarcely less attractive than that of the mountains. The largest and most widely known is Lake Winnepesaukee, 20 m. long and from 1 to 8 m. wide is dotted by 274 islands, mostly verdant, and has clear water and a rather level shore, behind which hills or mountains rise on all sides. Thy rivers with their numerous falls and the lakes with their high altitudes furnish a vast amount of water-power for manufacturing,—the Merrimac, in particular, into which many of the larger lakes, including Winnepesaukee, find an outlet.

Fertile soil in New Hampshire is confined largely to the bottom lands of the Merrimac and Connecticut rivers. In the south eastern section is also a moderately productive soil derived largely from the disintegration of slate. Elsewhere south of the moun tains, the surface soil is mostly hard pan or till, this being deep est on the drumlins. In the mountain region the soil is mostly a sandy loam composed of disintegrated granite gneiss and organic matter; on the lower and more gentle slopes as well as in the valleys this is generally deep enough for a luxuriant vegetable growth but on the steeper slopes it is thin or the rocks are bare.