southern slope of the great northern or Adirondac region, and is of a hilly and broken surface, with generally a thin, stony soil, adapted to grass more than to grain. It is for agricultural purposes only a third class county, and as it regards public works entirely inland. There is consider. able hydraulic power, which is used to some extent for manufacturing purposes. It has no important manufacturing centre, and although it has an easy access to the Erie canal and Central railroad, yet the population and wealth will increase slowly, and its valuations will require revision not oftener than four or five years.

it

HAMILTON COUNTY.

Hamilton county is bounded on the east by part of the counties of Essex and Warren, south by Fulton west by Herkimer, north by parts of St. Lawrence and Franklin. It lays entirely within the Adirondac region, or the region of the northern wilderness. Its surface is broken, hilly, and more or less mountainous, nearly covered with forests and lakes, and its soil mainly granite, thin and uncongenial, and not desirable for agricultural purposes. It is the least valuable of any county in the State; nor has any resources to ever make it desirable for agriculture or manufacturing. The value of its lands, as well as extensive tracts adjoining it on all sides, can be largely increased if the contemplated railroad from the Hudson to Lake Ontario be ever constructed. Such a work would be the means of developing the mineral resources of this entire region, and its proximity to the navigable waters of the Hudson river and of Lake Ontario would warrant an expenditure on the part of the State, if necessary to insure the completion of such an important work, that would assist to clear its forests, and open it out to agriculture. The people of this State cannot afford to leave as unproductive a tract of land-equal in extent to the State of Connecticut-which can be reached from its great commercial emporium by railroad in less than four hours. Good policy dictates that it should be placed in a condition to pay its portion of the public burthen.

HERKIMER COUNTY.

Herkimer county is bounded on the east by the counties of Montgomery, Fulton and Hamilton, north by St. Lawrence county, west by Lewis and Oneida, and south by Otsego. Its surface is broken, hilly, and mountainous; more than one-half of the county, or that part north of the Mohawk Valley, lies within the Adirondac or northern wilderness, and the remarks applied to Hamilton county will apply equally well to it. That portion which lies in the Mohawk Valley, and south of it, is prime dairy and second class grain lands, and it ranks in its agricultural capacities with the best of the second class counties.

It has the benefit of the Erie canal and Central railroad, across its territory from east to west. They are not only ample to furnish all the facilities for developing its agricultural resources, but help to make Little Falls by reason of its manufacturing, a centre of considerable importance. It has important hydraulic power, which is more or less improved, and at Little Falls important manufacturing establishments are in operation.

It is a thriving county, and its advantages are such that it must increase

both in population and wealth, and its valuations should be revised at least. as often as once in two years.

ST. LAWRENCE COUNTY.

St. Lawrence county is bounded on the north by the St. Lawrence river, on the east by the county of Franklin, south by the counties of Hamilton and Herkimer, and westerly by the counties' of Lewis and Jefferson.

It is emphatically a frontier county, having a longer frontage upon the State line than any other county in the State. Its surface, except a narrow strip along the river, is mountainous, broken and hilly, and more than two-thirds of all its acres are unimproved and covered to a large extent with forests that no probable system of public works will bring into market, except by slow degrees. It lies on the northern slope of the great northern wilderness, and more than a million of acres of its lands partake of the general characteristics of that region, and the same remarks applied to other sections of it, apply equally well to this portion of the county. A strip of land bordering upon the St. Lawrence river, and from twenty to thirty miles inland, embraces all the valuable and improved lands of the county. The soil, here, is well adapted to the spring grains and to grass, and compares favorably with any second class county in the State, and would bear an assessment upon its farm lands of not less than $20 per acre, whilst the balance of the county should not be rated higher than one doilar per acre.

It has immense hydraulic power, practically inexhaustible, and not surpassed by any other county in the State, not even excepting Erie or Niagara; but at present, it, in most instances, runs to waste. At some future day it may become a manufacturing centre of great importance. It has good railroad facilities for reaching the eastern markets of New England, or the southern ones of this State.

In its improved portion it is a prosperous and thriving agricultural county, and its valuations will require a revision once in two or three years.

SARATOGA COUNTY.

Saratoga county is bounded on the east by the Hudson river, on the north by the county of Warren, on the west by parts of Fulton and Hamilton, and on the south by parts of Schenectady and Albany counties. The surface of its northern and western portion partakes of the general features of the northern wilderness, of which it is the eastern limit, broken, rough and mountainous. Its southeastern part along and near the river has excellent land, but generally the soil is poor and thin, and for agricultural purposes it is to be ranked as only in the second class. It has much valuable hydraulic power, and by means of the Champlain canal and its railroads, possesses abundant means for their profitable employment. If the contemplated railroad to Lake Ontario should ever be constructed, it will help still further to its improvement. It is by means of its medicinal springs and its manufacturing, already an important centre to which population is being drawn annually, and its worth is necessarily increasing. Its valuations, however, will not require revision oftener than once in two or three years.

WARREN County.

Warren county is bounded on the east by part of Washington county and Lake George, on the south by Saratoga county, on the west by the county of Hamilton, and on the north by the county of Essex.

Its surface is generally mountainous, broken and rocky. The soil, where cleared of the original forest, is thin, cold, and not naturally fertile or productive, and is of little value beyond the production of grass. Its cold and uncongenial climate renders its agriculture of little importance; and the cultivation of the spring grains usually makes the farmer but scanty returns. It is at best only a third class or dairying county, and one of the least valuable in the State; yet if the contemplated railroad should be constructed, so that its timber and mineral resources can be developed, the real estate will be much more valuable than at present. The county, however, lays on the eastern slope of the great Adirondac region, and the same remarks in regard to other counties included therein, will apply to this county with equal force. It will increase very slowly in population and wealth, and its valuations will require revision not oftener than once in five years. AREA, POPULATION, AGRICULTURAL VALUATIONS AND COMMERCIAL ROUTES.

This group is 24 per cent. of the surface of the whole State, and embraces an area of 10,047 square miles, whereof there are:

Reduced to acres, at 640 acres to the square mile, and there are:

The improved is 29 per cent. of the whole, or 29 acres only out of every 100 are improved. The proportion of improved land of the group, to the improved land of the State, is 13 per cent.

POPULATION.

The aggregate.population is 329,385. There being no incorporated cities in the group, it is divided as follows, viz:

The density of the population is, total population to total area, 33 persons to the square mile, or one inhabitant to every 19 acres of land.

Of the rural population there are 17 to the square mile, or 38 acres of the whole area to each person. The aggregate population to the aggregate

improved square mile is 114 persons, or dropping fractions, six acres to each individual. But the aggregate rural population to the square mile of improved land is 66, or 11 acres to each person, which makes the average number of improved acres in each farm 66.

The cash valuation of farms, stock and implements, by the State census of 1855, was:

The average value of farms, stock and implements per acre, improved, is:

The aggregate value of all the real estate in the group is :

$2,508
396

99

$3,003

$70,830,044

8,800,000

1,000,000

$80,630,044

The principal villages are Ogdensburgh, Saratoga Springs, Malone and Little Falls, each of which have the elements of progressive increase, both in population and wealth.

The total miles of route for commercial traffic is 516, as follows:

The proportion of square miles of area to one mile of traffic route, is one mile of these public routes to nineteen square miles of surface.

The valuations of real estate by the State Assessors, and of personal estate by the town assessors, upon which the report of the Board of Equalization was based, for the years 1862 and 1863, are as follows:

The details are tabulated and shown in table B, of the appendix to this group

The banking capital in 1861 was $2,703.525. The details are tabulated in table C, of the appendix to this group.

The proportion of acres in grass to the whole area of cultivated or improved land is:

Thus we see that seventy acres of every hundred of the improved land is either in pasture or meadow.

Total acres under cultivation, exclusive of pasture and meadow, 431,637, or 24 per cent. of the whole area of improved land; leaving a fraction, about six per cent. of the improved lands unaccounted for, but which are included in orchards and errors of census.

The proportion under cultivation in the group to the whole improved and of the State is 13 per cent.