| MASSACHUSETTS. | Măs-sa-chū´sets. "Old Bay State." |
One of the thirteen original States; first permanent settlement made by English Puritans, at Plymouth, 1620.
Area, 8,315 square miles; length, northeast and southwest, 160 miles; breadth, 47 to 100 miles. Number counties, 14.
Temperature at Boston: winter, 27° to 38°; summer, 66° to 71°; rainfall, 45 inches.
Boston, capital and metropolis; pop., 390,406. Lowell, Lawrence and Fall River famous for cotton manufactures; pops., 64,051, 38,845 and 56,863. Worcester, great railroad and manufacturing centre; pop., 68,383. Cambridge, seat of Harvard College, the oldest in America, pop., 59,660. Lynn, famous for manufacture of boots and shoes; pop., 45,861. New Bedford, greatest whaling port in the world; pop., 33,393. Springfield contains greatest arsenal in the United States; pop., 37,577.
Number of farms, 38,406; average value per acre, cleared land, $85; woodland, $43.25. Hay, the most valuable crop; wheat, 1884, 19,000 bushels; oats, 717,000; corn, 1,941,300 bu. Ranks first in cotton, woolen and worsted goods, and in cod and mackerel fisheries, owning over half of the fishing vessels of the United States; second in wealth and commerce; third in manufactures and in printing and publishing; fourth in silk goods; fifth in soap; sixth in iron and steel; ninth in agricultural implements.
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Population 1,941,465; male, 932,429; female, 1,009,036; native, 1,459,982; foreign, 481,483; white, 1,920,498; colored, 20,361; Chinese, 229; Japanese, 8; Indians, 369.
State, congressional and presidential elections, Tuesday after first Monday in November. Number Senators, 40; Representatives, 240; sessions annual, meeting first Wednesday in January; limit of session, none; terms of Senators and Representatives, one year each. Number electoral votes, 14; number voters, 544,192; native white, 353,347; foreign white, 184,439; colored, 6,406; Paupers, persons under guardians, non-taxpayers, and men unable to read and write excluded from voting.
