TOPOGRAPHY. Thy of Delaware is extremely simple, and presents little diversity of features. Almost the entire State is on the nearly level coastal plain, and probably averages less than 50 feet above sea-level. In the extreme north the surface is rolling, but the highest hill only attains an altitude of 280 feet above the sea-level, while the only relief to monotonous. level in the central and southern portions is the central sandy ridge, not exceeding 70 feet. The streams. of Delaware, while numerous, are all small. in the northern part of the State the streams flow in an easterly or southeasterly direction across it from Pennsylvania and Sfaryland, and empty into the Delaware. Near ly all the State. however, lies an the penin sula between Delaware and Chesapeake bays, and the divide between their waters tra verses the State from north to south, keep ing at a uniform distance from the east mast. Thus, as the State broadens southward, a relatively greater part of it lies west of the divide in the south than in the north. None of these rivers is navigable, although the estuary like mouth of Christiana ('reek permits the as cent of vessels to \Vilmington. The Delaware toast of Delaware Itay and the estuary of 1)ela w are IZiVer offer fete advantages in the way of harbors. Portions of the shore are marshy, and the only good harbors :ire at Lewes. 1Vil min,ton. and New I astle. the It•hmare Break water has been constructed at great expense near the mouth of the bay, in order 10 somewhat this drtirirm y of safe harbors. On the southern border of the State there is an area of s.naitip land Vov..ring 70 spiare on the .%tlantie coast there are a number of shallow bays or lagoons separated from the ocean by sandy: reefs: the shallowness of their en I lances. howl ver. limit s t here usefulness. The largest bays art. Rehoboth and Indian River bays, wilielt a tt...; Indian L'1‘, r Init t, which permits navigation by vessels drawing les. than six feet of water.
I'LiNt lTE Notts, Situated on the eastern •o:.st of tl e continent. Delaware has it temperate climate. tt ith a range of temperature and an ample rainfall.
The aN•rage al11111:11 temperature is about 55° F., varying from 56' at the extreme south to
about '12 at the t xtreme north. The average daily of temperature, or difference between the highest and lowest temperatures during twenty-four hours. is ir11111 to 20'. The highest summer temperature on record is 103° an I t he we,t Whiter telnpera life - 17 : even in midsummer the temperature has descended to 59 . I in the average Auroist day the tempera ture rises to about and on the average Janu ary- day the temperature deseends to 25 . the fall frosts seldom occur before Detober 10th, and may not occur until about November 1st : while in the spring they may (went- as late as the latter part of April. The advent of spring (i.e. the awakening of plant life) occurs on the average about the end of 7Alarch.
The annual rainfall is. on the average. from •0 to .15 inches over the State as a whole. but is slightly greater on the coast than inland. The rainfall is rather evenly distributed over the whole year, although there scent: to he Some what less precipitation in late fall and early winter than at other seasons of the year. Dam aging droughts are not infrequent, but killing droughts arc unknown. Ileavy rainfalls take Place: sometimes an average month's rainfall scene in a single day: but damaging rain-storms are rare. and are most frequent from :\lay to August. The pre vailing winds are from the northwest from Oc tober to from the southwest in June and July, rind variable (luring the intervening spring and fall month, the :tr. sedimentary, derived from the un derlyiwv Terti try rocks. In the rolling northern portion of the state the soil is clay, passing through the various gradations from a heavy elay to a loamy clay, and is well adapted for raisite_ fruits, grasses, and ''rains. In the un dulating Middle rictill, approximately covered by Kent •oma). the soil iv generally loamy. litre fruits, berries. vegetable.. and the vine flourish. In the that southern section of `-411ssex l'ounty the ...oil is -.ands, with here and there outcrops of loamy clay. This region is best adapted for strawberry and p•aeli culture. Fer flora and fauna sot' the resi,eetive paragraphs under UNITED ST‘Tes.