SAINT JOHNSBURY  , a township and the county-seat of Caledonia county, Vermont, U.S.A., on the Passumpsic river, about 34 M . E.N.E. of Montpelier . Pop . (189o) 6567; (1900) 7010; (1910) 8098; of the village of the same name (1900) 5666 (1309 foreign-born); (1910) 6693 . Area of the township, about 47 sq. m . Saint Johnsbury is served by the Boston & Maine and the Saint Johnsbury & Lake Champlain railways . The farms of the township are devoted largely to dairying . In the village are a Y.M.C.A. building (1885); the Saint Johnsbury Academy (1842); the Saint Johnsbury Athenaeum (1871), with a library (about 18,000 volumes in 1909) and an art gallery;the Fairbanks Museum of Natural Science (1891), founded by Colonel Franklin Fairbanks; St Johnsbury Hospital (1895); Brightlook Hospital (1899, private); the large scales manufactory of the E . & T . Fairbanks Company (see FAIRBANKS, ERASTUS), and also manufactories of agricultural implements, steam hammers, granite work, furniture and carriages . There are two systems of water-works, one being owned by the village . The township of Saint Johnsbury was granted to Dr Jonathan Arnold (1741–1793) and associates in 1786; in the same year a settlement was established and the place was named in honour of Jean Hector Saint John de Crevecceur (1731—1813), who wrote Letters of an American Farmer (1782), a glowing description of America, which brought thither many immigrants, and who introduced potato planting into France .

The township

government was organized in 1790, and the village was incorporated in 1853 . ST JOHN'S WORT, in botany, the general name for species of Hypericum, especially H. perforatum, small shrubby plants with slender stems, sessile opposite leaves which are often dotted with pellucid glands, and showy yellow flowers . H . Androsacnium is Tutsan (Fr. tout saine), so called from its healing properties . H. calycinum (Rose of Sharon), a creeping plant with large almost solitary flowers 3 to 4 in. across, is a south-east European plant which has become naturalized in Britain in various places in hedges and thickets .