THE United States are most desirably situated. Placed in the northern temperate zone, they occupy just that portion of it, which is most likely to yield a healthy climate and rich soil. Happily removed from the parching heat of the torrid, and eternal frosts of the frigid zone, the republic is nevertheless of such an extent as almost to touch upon both. The climate of a country, stretching through twenty degrees of latitude, cannot but be of great diversity. In this respect it has been divided into five regions, which may be denominated the _very cold_, the _cold_, the _temperate_, the _warm_, and the _hot_. 1. The _very cold_, in the north-east, may be defined by running a line from St. Regis, on the St. Lawrence, along the high land in the state of New York to Tioga Point, in Pennsylvania; thence to Stony Point on Hudson’s river, and thence to Cape Cod in Massachusetts. In this region the summers continue from June through August, and the winters from November to the middle of April. The extremes of heat and cold are great, and the changes sudden, but the country is, notwithstanding, healthy. To the westward, north of a line drawn from the southern extremity of Lake Huron to the Rocky Mountains, the climate is also very cold, and the northern extremity in the winter is excessively so. The winters of Maine are long and severe, with clear settled weather, which generally continues from the middle of December, till the latter end of March; during which time, the ponds and fresh water rivers are passable on the ice. There is scarcely any spring season; the summer is short, and warm; but autumn is in general pure, healthy, and pleasant. The climate of New Hampshire is highly favorable to health; but the winters are long and severe. Cattle are housed about the first of November. Snow lies on the ground from four to five months, and the use of sleighs during that period is general. The spring is rapid, and the heat of summer great, but of short duration; autumn is very pleasant. Morning and evening fires are needed as early as the first of September, and as late as the first of June. The climate of Vermont differs little from that of New Hampshire, and is extremely healthy. The earth is generally covered with snow from the middle of December till the end of March; but the winter seasons may be said to continue from the beginning of November till the middle of April, during which, the inhabitants enjoy a serene sky and a keen cold air. The ground is seldom frozen to any great depth, being covered with a great body of snow, in some high lands to the depth of four or five feet, before the severe frosts begin. In this way the earth is enriched and moistened, and in the spring vegetation advances with great rapidity.