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VERMILION
2012
VERMONT

provided with bristles, but have two round suckers, one at either end of the body. Some of the leeches live on fishes, feeding on the mucus which comes from the bodies of those animals; others are bloodsuckers. The latter are provided with sharp jaws, located within the forward sucking-disc, with which they cut the skin of the animals upon which they fasten. The unsegmented worms embrace the flat worms (plathel-minthes) and the roundworms (nemathel-minthes). Some of the former class live in the water and moist earth, and others of the same class are internal parasites, like tapeworms. The class of roundworms likewise includes forms living freely in the water and other substances, as horsehair worms and vinegar and paste eels. Examples of parasitic roundworms are the stomach-worms and pinworms of children and the trichina. The latter is the most dangerous of the parasitic worms, getting into the system by eating raw or partly cooked pork. Besides the annelids, flat-worms and roundworms, there is a fourth class called molluscoidea. Under this heading are grouped a few forms that have given naturalists no little trouble to classify. One division of them contains moss-animals (polyzoa), both of salt and fresh water. They occur in branching colonies which resemble low plants in general form. The other division includes shelled-worms, called brachiopods, which were formerly included among the mollusks near the clams. See Rotifer, Trichina and Vertebrates.

Vermil′ion, a bright scarlet color which is obtained from a native ore called cinnabar, or is made artificially from mercury and sulphur. This compound, sulphide of mercury, is thrown into tall, earthen pots, and the lower parts kept red-hot. The substance volatilizes and coats the pots with cinnabar. The pots are broken and the cinnabar scraped off, ground and dried, when it is ready for use as vermilion. Cinnabar, the ore from which vermilion is obtained, is a compound of sulphur and mercury, of a blood-red color. It is simply ground fine, and then known as vermilion. The most important mines are those of Almaden in Spain, which have been worked for 3,000 years, and of New Almaden in California. There are mines in Brazil, Peru, Austria, Hungary, China and Japan.

Vermont′ (from the French vert mont — green mountain), a North-Atlantic state of the Union, popularly known as the Green Mountain State, has an area of 9,565 square miles. Its length is 155 and its extreme breadth 90 miles; its northern boundary being the Canadian province of Quebec, its eastern one New Hampshire, its southern one Massachusetts and its western one New York. The Connecticut River separates it from New Hampshire, while its northwestern boundary is chiefly formed by Lake Champlain, which separates it from New York. Its capital is Montpelier (population 7,856). The other chief towns are Burlington (20,468), Rutland (13,546), Barre (10,734), Brattleboro (7,541) and St. Albans (6,381). The population of the state (census 1910) was 355,956. Vermont was admitted to the federal Union in March, 1791.

Surface and Climate. The main feature of the surface is the Green Mountain range, which traverses it northeast and southwest, and forms the watershed. The range has a number of considerably elevated peaks, at a height varying from 4,001 to 4,364 feet, the latter representing the altitude of Mt. Mansfield. The state's general elevation is between 600 and 1,000 feet, though there are low sections in the valleys, about the lakes and along the rivers. It has a long and generally severe winter, with frequent heavy snowfalls, but the winter is bracing, while the summer usually is bright and pleasant.

Natural Resources. Forests, chiefly of spruce and hemlock overspread the state, but in parts there is considerable agricultural land, though the farms are small, as a rule, and generally devoted to dairy interests and the cultivation of hay, oats, barley and corn. The apple is largely cultivated, and the state extensively produces maple-sugar and maple-syrup. The soil for the most part is poor and stony, though on the hill-slopes there is good herbage for the grazing of cattle, sheep and other animals of the farm. The chief cereals raised in 1910 were 3,528,000 bushels of oats; 1,426,000 of corn; and of wheat about 29,000 bushels. Hay usually is a large crop, as are potatoes; while there is only a fair yield of barley and buckwheat. The number of domestic animals on the farms is 80,781 horses, 265,483 dairy-cows, 164,831 other cattle, 118,551 sheep and 94,821 swine. In 1900 the production of lumber was valued at close upon $7,000,000, but it has since declined to the extent of a million dollars. On the other hand, the mining industries have of recent years improved greatly, particularly granite, marble and other building-stone; also the annual yield from slate, brick and tile.

Manufactures. Vermont makes only an indifferent showing in volume of manufactures; New Hampshire annually has almost double its value of industrial products. In 1909 the manufacturing establishments numbered 1,958, with an aggregate capital of $73,470,000. The wages to 33,788 wage-earners amounted to $17,272,000; while the gross value of the products was $68,310,000. The chief industrial centers are Burlington, Barre and Rutland. Marble, granite and stone-work, including the manufacture of monuments and tombstones, in 1909 made returns of close upon