outlines of the state are exceedingly irregular, but its river, lake, and ocean boundaries are•nearly all navigable, including 352 m. on the lakes; 281+ m. on the St. Lawrence, Poultney, Hudson, Kill van Kull, Delaware, and Niagara rivers; and 246 m. on Long Island sound and the Atlantic ocean. The total extent of the boundary lines on the border of Canada. Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey. and Pennsylvania is 541.28 miles. The chief harbors are New York bay and harbor; Dun kirk and Buffalo, on lake Erie; Tonawanda and Lewiston, on Niagara river; Genesee, Sothis, Oswego. Sackett's Harbor, and Cape Vincent, on lake Ontario; Ogdensburg, on the St. Lawrence; Rouse's Point, Plattsbnrg, and Whitehall, on lake Champlain; and Sag Harbor, at the e. end of Long Island, with other harbors on the n. and s. shores of that island. The principal rivers are the Hudson, Mohawk, Oswego, Alle gnany, Susquehanna, and Delaware, with numerous branches and tributaries. The state is noted for the number and beauty of its lakes, among which are Chau tauqua, Cattaraugus, Hemlock, Honeoye, Canadice, Conesns, Crooked, Canandaigua, Seneca, Cayuga, Owasco, Skaneateles, Cross, Onondaga, Otiseo, Cazenovia, Oneida, Otsego, Schuyler, Schroon, George, Avalanche, Colden, Henderson, Sandford, Eckford, Racket, Forked, Newcomb, Long, Saranac (upper and lower), Tupper's, Rich, Pleasant, besides the great lakes and lake Champlain. Three mountain ranges, entering the state from the s., cross it in a n.e. direction. The first of these, a continuation of the Blue Ridge, runs through Rockland. Orange, Putnam, and Dutchess counties, and forms the highlands of the Hudson. Its highest peaks are Beacon hill, Dutchess co., 1085 ft.; Bull bill., Putnam co., 1586 ft. ; Butter hill, Orange co., 1529 ft. ; Old Beacon, Putnam co.. 1471 ft.; Crow Nest, Orange co., 1418 ft.; Bear Mount, Orange eo., 1350 ft.; Anthony's Nose, Putnam co.. 1228 feet; and Breakneck, Orange Co., 1187 ft. The second range extends through Sullivan, Ulster, and Greene counties, terminating in the Catskill mountains on the Hudson. Its highest peaks are Round Top, 3,804 ft.; High Peak, 3,718 ft.; and Pine Orchard, 3,000 ft.—all in Greene Co.; and Rockland mount, 2,400 ft., and Walnut hill, 1980 ft., in Sullivan county. The Shawanglink mountains are the extreme c. spur of this range, and the Helderberg and Hellibark mountains extend from it north into Albany and Schoharie counties. The third range extends through Broome, Delaware, Otsego, Scholtarie, Montgomery, and Herkimer counties to the Mohawk; and reappearing on the n. side of that river, continues to lake Champlain, forming the Adirondack mountain region. Geographically, the Adirondack region is bounded by lake Champlain, the St. Lawrence, the Mohawk, and the Black rivers. This extensive territory contains the only great forests remaining as a public domain within the borders of the state The first sur veys of this territory were made in 1772, but it was precisely 100 years later that a sys• tematic topographical survey region yap undertaken. by pets of the legisla ture. The Adironclat:ks described as "igneous; plutonic mountains—the rocks generally metamorphic, granite, and gneiss, with feldspar and hornblende." The principal peaks are mount Marcy, 5,402 ft.; mount Clinton, 4,937 ft.; MaeHavre, 5,106 ft.; Wight; Skylight, 4,997 ft. ; Haystack, 5,006 ft.; Colden; Dix; Blue; Gothic, 4,744 ft.; Giant of the Valley, 4,o$0 feet. The lake and river levels here have an altitude of 1&00 to 2,000 ft., and the climate is much more severe than in the lowlands of the same latitude. Here are extensive beds of iron ore, some of which have been worked: the average annual yield of the entire region is 30,000 tons. The fauna of the Adirondacks is very rich, affording the panther, lynx, sable, ermine, deer, black bear, rabbits, squir rels, and birds in large variety. 'Phis part of the state is accessible from Saratoga by the Adirondack railroad, and stage from North creek to Blue 'Mountain lake; thence by small steamboats to Baguette lake; also from Plattsburg to the Saranac lakes by rail mad and stage.—Of cataracts in the state, Niagara Falls, in the outlet of the four great upper lakes, are 104 ft. high and 1100 wide on the American side, and 2,000 ft. wide on the Canadian side; the total descent being 333 ft., and the width of the river below the falls 1000 feet. The Genesee liver has a descent of 260 ft. in three falls within the space of two miles near its source, and there are other falls near Rochester with a descent of 200 feet. Trenton Falls are a succession of live cascades, having 200 ft. of fall in a course of two-thirds of a mile. Cohoes and Little Falls, in the Mohawk, form grand cataracts in times of freshet. In the Catskills a small stream is precipitated down a ledge 180 ft. high.—The watershed that separates the n. from the s. drainage of w. New York extends in an irregular line through the counties. The country s. of this water-shed. embracing the most of the two s. tiers of counties, is nearly all a hilly country. North of the water-shed the surface descends in rolling and smooth terraces toward lake Ontario, the region between the hills of the s. and the level lands of the n. being a beautiful, roll ing country. The river system of the state comprises that part drained by the great lakes and the St. Lawrence, northerly, and that drained by the Hudson and other rivers, south erly. The water-shed between extends irregularly from lake Erie eastward through the s. tier of counties to the Adirondack mountains, lake George, and the state line, east.
Agriculture.—Most of the crops and fruits of the temperate zone can be raised in New York. More than half of the total area of the state is improved, and under successful cultivation.
The average value per acre of cleared lands in New York in 1880 was $58.43; the average value of timbered lands, $40.88; the average increase in value of both classes in one year being 4.7 per cent.
In the northern counties and the highland regions along the s. border and upon the Hudson. stock and sheep raising and dairy farming are pursued; while the low lands that form the greater part of the surface of the w. portion of the state are best adapted to grain growing. Broom corn has long been the staple crop of the Mohawk valley intervals, tobacco being extensively raised in the Chemung valley and parts of Onondaga and Wayne counties; hops have been an important crop in Madison, Oneida, Otsego, and Schoharie counties; grapes have been successfully cultivated in the valley of the Hudson below the highlands, on the n. shore of Long Island, and in several of the lake valleys in the central part of the state. Maple sugar is an important product of
northern and central New York; and fruits, including apples, peaches, pears, and straw berries, are largely grown in the western counties n. of the water-shed; while latterly peaches have begun to be an important crop in Ulster county. Large, tracts of land in the vicinity of York city, and particularly cm; Long Island, are ,devoted to market gardening and dairying, and the inhabitants supply milk, butter, cheese, eggs, vezeta hies and small fruit to the markets of the metropolis.
The climate of New York is varied, with a range wider than any other state. Those portions which are under the influence of the ocean, sound, and any winds, are more even in temperature, and suffer less severely from the late frosts of spring and the early frosts of autumn, and from summer heats, than portions of the country in the same i latitude not thus influenced. The mean temperature of the state, as determined from observations made during 25 years, is 46.49': The mean length of the season of vegetation from the first blooming of apples to the first killing frost is 174 days; though on LongIsland it is 121 days longer, and in St. Lawrence co. 22 days shorter. The mean annual fall of water in rain and snow is 40.93 inches.
The principal mineral and medicinal springs of the state are the salt springs of Onon daga co., from which more than 7,000,000 bushels of salt are made annually; SEratoga springs; New Lebanon, and Stockport, Columbia co.; Massena, St. Lawtence co.; Rich field, Otsego Co.; Avon, Livingston co. ;. Clifton, Ontario Co.; Sharon, Schoharie co.; Chittenango, Madison co.; and Alabama, Genesee county.
Geology. —With few exceptions the later rock formations are not represented in New a very complete series of the older groups are found, from the azoic up to the lower members of the carboniferous. From me. New Jersey, extending over Rockland co., and terminating at the trap formation known as the Palisades, on the w.,side of Tappan bay in the Hudson, is the red sandstone of the middle secondary. On the bor ders of the St. Lawrence and lake Champlain are some tertiary depjsits of the plioecue period; and the drift or bowlder formation overruns the whole state, being developed over Long Island in beds of sand, gravel, and clays so deep that the rocky ledges are everywhere concealed from sight, except at a few points where the gneiss is laid bare on the shore of the East river opposite New York island. The great metamorphic belt of the eastern states passes into New York all along its eastern line, and to the n. of the Mohawk river branches off over nearly all• the rough country lying between lakes Onta rio and Champlain. In this district are the Adirondack mountains. The granitic and hypersthene rocks of which they consist spread almost to the St. Lawrence, from which the tract is separated by a belt of the Potsdam sandstone, which passes through Potsdam in St. Lawrence co., and surrounds the great district of azoic rocks on its n. and w. sides; and next to this, bordering the St. Lawrence, the calciferous sand-rock overlies the Potsdam sandstone. The birdseye, Black river, and Trenton limestones of the next upper group of rocks lie in Jefferson co. on the c. end of lake Ontario, and along the S.W. border of the azoic district through Lewis co. and into Herkimer county. The region thus surrounded is the great iron-ore district of n. New York. Beds of magnetic and specular iron ores are worked near lake‘Champlain and in the s.w. part. of St. Lawrence co. ; and in the latter neighborhood are also the most promising lead mines e. of Wis consin. The region e. of the Hudson river consists of the lower members of the New York system of rocks more or less metamorphosed, the sandstone passing into quartz rock; blue stratified limestone into the crystalline and white marbles; and the argilla ceous slates of the Hudson river group into silicious, talcose, and micaceous slates. The unaltered Silurian rocks cross the Hudson river in a belt reaching from the lower corner of Dutchess co. to Hondout in Ulster co., and extend into the n.e. portion of New Jer sey. The metamorphic formations, comprising the slates and gneiss with occasional beds of crystalline limestone or marble, occupy the counties of Putnam and Westchester, and the s.e. portion of Orange county. New York island consists of gneiss. and the same formation extends across Staten island, and reappears in the neighborhood of Tren ton, N. J. Along its s.e. half this formation is covered by the secondary red sandstone. which from Tappan bay crosses Rockland co.-and New Jersey into Pennsylvania. This group contains valuable beds of hematite iron ore. In the highlands are also many beds of massietic iron ore, and there are numerous beds of white marble. It is in the Ilud son river slates or lower Silurian limestones that the mineral springs of Ballston, Sara toga, and Sharon are found. In Delaware, Greene, Sullivan, and parts of Ulster and Broome counties the red and gray sandstones of the Catskill group overlay the Portage and Chemung series of sandstones, slates, and shales; and upon some of the Catskills, and at a few points in Delaware and Sullivan counties, the millstone grit or conglomerate, which forms the floor of the coal formation, caps the highest summits. Only about 100 ft. more of height was needed to reach one or more of the lower coal-beds, and this is as near the carboniferous formation as is reached in New York, though in Pennsylvania coal-beds are formed within 0 m. of the state line. The Portage, under lying the'shales of the Chcmung, is composed of thin-bedded gray and bluish close-grained sandstones. These are quarried in Ulster, Greene, Albany, and Seneca counties, and to the amount of several million ft. annually are sent to NOW York for flagging. This formation also yields grindstones. In the w. part of the state the sandstones are bitumi nous; and at a number of places in Alleghany, Cattaraufrus, and Chautauqua comities. springs of petroleum issue from the rocks of this group, sometimes accompanied by jets of carbureted hydrogen gas. The rock formations from the Potsdam sandstone up, with their various subdivisions, constitute what is known as the New York system. ;Ind with the carboniferous group complete the Appalachian system. In this state the formations below the carboniferous are very fully developed, and are particularly rich in fossils. At Trenton falls, the ravine is cut through, the Trenton limestone formation of the transi tion period, which' contains trilObites, nautili, and other fossils of interest.