THE REGION 



Owing to the range in elevation and variety of soils it is diffi- 

 cult to give accurate geographic boundaries for the region to 

 which this study is applicable. In general, second growth 

 hardwood stands of the types studied occur over central 

 and western Massachusetts, southern Vermont and New 

 Hampshire and northern Connecticut, " sprout" hardwoods 

 extending north in the valleys and northern hardwoods south 

 on the hills. 



In north-central Massachusetts, where the field data were 

 gathered, stands reach their optimum on moist benches and 

 gentle slopes at low elevations. East of the Connecticut 

 River valley bottoms average 650 feet in elevation above sea 

 level and the elongated granite, syenite and gneissoid ridges 

 1150 feet in altitude, their long axes being roughly north 

 and south. Escarpments from a few feet to a hundred or 

 more in height are not uncommon. West of the Connecticut 

 the topography becomes gradually more broken until in the 

 Berkshires it is mountainous, with Greylock rising to the 

 height of 3600 feet. 



The soils are mostly glacial in origin, ranging from deep, 

 fertile agricultural land with few boulders (but a small por- 

 tion of the area is of this type except for the valley floors of 

 the Connecticut and tributary streams) to very thin, boul- 

 dery deposits on the bed rock of the ridge-tops and steep 

 slopes almost exclusively covered with huge, angular frag- 

 ments. There is a distinct tendency toward sandy rather 

 than clay loams with a great abundance of loose rock and 

 boulders of all sizes. Considerable areas of sand plain are 

 occasional. With the exception of the Connecticut River 

 valley some seven-tenths of the area is absolute forest land, 

 either because of its low fertility, steep slope, or abundance 

 of large boulders. 



