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by Hampshire, and west by Berkshire. Connecticut river passes centrally from north to south through the county, and Deerfield from the west, and Miller's river from the east, divide the county into quarters. Few equal tracts of county exceed this for the extent and value of its water power. Miller's falls, on the Connecticut, exhibit a sublime spectacle, and Deerfield and Miller's rivers afford fine sites for manufactures. Greenfield is the shire town. It is intersected by the Vermont and Massachusetts, and by the Connecticut River railroads.

BERKSHIRE COUNTY.

Berkshire is in the western part of the state, and contains thirtyone towns. It is bounded west by New York, north by Vermont, east by Hampshire, Hampden and Franklin, and south by Connecticut. It had a population of 35,720 in 1820, and 52,791 in 1855. It is principally an agricultural county, though it has extensive manufactories on the Housatonic and Hoosic rivers, the former of which passes from near the centre of the county through Connecticut to Long Island sound—the latter through a corner of Vermont to the Hudson. The Green mountains lie along its eastern line, and the Taghconnic divide its waters from the Hudson. Pittsfield and Lenox are the chief towns. It is intersected from east to west by the Western railroad.

NORFOLK COUNTY.

Norfolk county was incorporated in 1793, and till then connected with Suffolk. The population was 36,471 in 1820, and 94,448 in 1855. It is divided into one city, Roxbury, and twenty-two towns. It is bounded south-east by Plymouth and Bristol, south-west by Worcester and Rhode Island, north-west by Middlesex, and northeast by the ocean. It is finely watered by the Neponset and Charles rivers. This name was, in early times, applied to a county partly in New Hampshire, and partly of the towns in this state north of

Merrimack river. Dedham is the shire town. strong soil, and being in the vicinity of Boston

This county has a

much of it is under

high cultivation. The city of Roxbury and many of its towns have been greatly built up and beautified by the wealth of Boston.

BRISTOL COUNTY.

Bristol county was incorporated in 1685. It is divided into two cities and seventeen towns, of which Taunton is the ancient shire town of the county. Courts are now held also at New Bedford and

Fall River. It had 40,908 inhabitants in 1820, and 87,425 in 1855. It is bounded east by Plymouth, south by Rhode Island, west by Worcester, and north by Norfolk. The surface is generally level. It has some sea coast and several good harbors. It contains abundance of iron ore, and extensive manufactures of that material for almost all uses. It has fine streams and good water power in almost every town. The product of manufactures in 1837 was $7,000,000, and of the fisheries $2,000,000.

PLYMOUTH COUNTY.

Plymouth county contains the oldest settlement in the state, and was a separate colony until the appointment of Sir Edmund Andros as General Governor, in 1685. He arrived at Boston December 22, 1686, in the Kingfisher, a fifty gun ship, with a commission from King James, to be Governor of New England and New York, and from that day Plymouth ceased to be a separate colony. Upon a rumor of the landing of the Prince of Orange in England the people here arose and deposed Sir Edmund, and seized the government April 18, 1689. Strenuous exertions were made by the people of Plymouth to obtain a separate charter from William and Mary, but they did not succeed, and the commission of Sir William Phipps, who arrived May 14, 1692, included both colonies, and confirmed their union. The county contains twenty-five towns, of which Plymouth is the shire. It is bounded east by Massachusetts bay,

south by Barnstable and Buzzard's bay, west by Bristol, and north by Norfolk. The soil is not so productive as that in some other parts of the state. It has fine water power, and extensive manufactures of iron. It has some foreign commerce and valuable fisheries. It has good railroad accommodations, by the Old Colony rail road and its branches, and is a prosperous manufacturing county, with a good share of commerce and agriculture.

BARNSTABLE COUNTY.

Barnstable county comprises the whole peninsular of Cape Cod. It is surrounded by water, except a narrow isthmus which connects it with Plymouth county. It has Massachusetts bay on the north, Buzzard's bay on the south west, and is bounded on the other sides by the open sea. Incorporated in 1685. The population was 24,026 in 1820, and 35,877 in 1855. It is divided into thirteen towns. It has but little agriculture, most of the people being very appropriately engaged in the fisheries, the land being mostly sandy and barren, and of a large part of the men it may be truly said, their home is on the deep. The whole length of the Cape is sixty miles, and the breadth about five miles. The value of the fisheries and the manufacture of salt and glass has exceeded $1,300,000 per annum. It is connected with Boston by a steamboat to Provincetown, and by the Cape Cod railroad, which connects with the Old Colony road, at Middleboro'.

DUKES COUNTY.

Dukes county is composed of the islands of Martha's Vineyard, Chippaquiddick, Norman's Land, and Elizabeth islands. It has three towns, Edgartown, Tisbury and Chilmark. Edgartown is the chief town. Nashawn, Nashuenna and Presque isle are the largest of the Elizabeth islands. The county is small, and inconveniently divided into separate islands—of indifferent soil, and but poorly adapted to agriculture. Martha's Vineyard is well situated for com

merce and the fisheries. An Indian church was founded here about 1666, by Mr. Cotton and Mr. Mather. Hiacombs was their pastor. It is now extinct.

NANTUCKET COUNTY.

Nantucket county is composed of the island of that name. It has but one town, formerly called Sherburne, but as an island, a county and a town it is generally known as Nantucket. It contained 7266 inhabitants in 1820, and 4401 in 1855. Though its beeches and sand banks are noted for sterility, yet they surround some thousand acres of arable land, diversified with hill and dale, and producing most of the articles raised on the continent. It originally belonged to twenty-seven proprietors, but in 1794, three hundred. Much of it is still owned in common, and devoted to the pasturage of sheep. The island is fifteen miles long and about four miles average width. It is 110 miles south-east from Boston, and 55 south-east from New Bedford. It was first settled by whites in 1659. The Indian name was Nantican. Its principal business is the whale fishery, but it has much declined of late. This island formerly belonged to Thomas Mayhew, and was sold by him to Thomas Macy, a Quaker, said to have emigrated from Salisbury. [See town of Nantucket.]

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SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS. The western part of the state is mountainous. The Green Mountains of Vermont extend across the state between the counties of Berkshire on the west, and Hampshire, Hampden and Franklin on the east, and Berkshire on the west, and divide the waters that fall into the Connecticut from those that descend to the Hoosac and Housatonic. The Taghconnic range extends through many of the towns in the south-western part of the state. The middle and north eastern parts of the state are hilly and uneven, but present no elevated summits except Wachusett, in the county of Worcester. The counties of Plymouth and Bristol are generally level, and the soil light and sandy. The other parts of the state have a strong and deep soil, interspersed with stones, of which a sufficient quantity are found in most places for purposes of fencing and building. The western counties contain excellent grazing land, and great quantities of butter and cheese are made for market; and vast numbers of the cattle and hogs are sent to supply the cities of Boston and New York.

The vallies of the Connecticut, Housatonic and Merrimack, with those of their numerous branches, have soil of the best qualities, and present, in many places, rich tracts of interval or alluvial land of the greatest fertility. There is also good land, and in a high state of cultivation, on the borders of the numerous creeks and inlets in the eastern borders of the state and near the sea coast. Extensive tracts of salt meadows, especially on Plum Island sound and between Lynn and Chelsea, yield spontaneously much valuable fodder, and still more valuable manure.

Agriculture is in a respectable state, and is every year advancing. The towns around Boston are literally gardens, and those in the neighborhood of Salem, Newburyport and other large cities and

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