PASTURE CULTURE 7 



Ground-Water Podzols 



In poorly drained areas where the water table is close to the surface, a modified 

 type of podzolization occurs. Fluctuations in the ground-water level produce 

 a zone where alternate conditions of oxidation and reduction occur. A characteris- 

 tic mottling and staining, resulting from the precipitation of iron oxides, is found 

 in this zone, and the permanently saturated zone below has a typical gray or 

 bluish-gray color. Soils of the Whitman, Peru, and Sudbury series are all ex- 

 amples of ground-water podzols. 



Influence of Cultivation 



Before the advent of any human civilization in this region, the natural forest 

 cover served to a considerable extent to counteract the serious effects of leaching. 

 This was particularly true for thei various plant food elements in the soil. Before 

 these could be washed out of the profile and lost in the drainage, they were re- 

 moved by plant roots and utilized for carrying on growth and other normal life 

 processes. After being taken up from the soil in this manner, these elements were 

 returned to the soil surface as dead plant remains, to add to and become a part of 

 that gradualh- increasing layer of organic matter or humus. Then, when en- 

 vironmental conditions were such as to accelerate the complete decomposition 

 of these plant remains or soil humus, simple plant food elements were again 

 released in the soil and were again taken up by living plants to produce new plant 

 growth. Thus a cycle was established eons ago. Changing little in nature, an 

 ever thicker layer of humus was built up which endured until the coming of 

 civilization. 



It is particularly important at this time to point out that, because of the 

 strongly leached character of the mineral fraction of the soil, the non-mineral 

 fraction or soil humus represented the only real reserve or accumulation of soil 

 fertility. As the surface layer of organic matter or "vegetable mould" increased 

 in thickness, just so much did the reserve supply of soil fertility increase. This 

 important relationship was recognized by Henry Colman, when in 1841 he wrote: 



In a forest, the soil is not injured by the Growth of the wood but rather 

 is enriched . . . because the annual decaying matter from these trees, 

 these leaves, and rotten limbs is continually accumulating on the Ground, 

 passing into a state of decomposition and increasing the vegetable mould.* 



Nature's scheme of fertility conservation proceeded, with constructive forces 

 slightly outweighing destructive forces, until the coming of human civilization, 

 at which time this natural balance was thrown in the other direction. It began 

 in a limited way with the Indians, who, according to an early writer, "at the 

 Spring and the fall of the leafe" were accustomed to "fire the country," burning 

 the underbrush and the younger trees, so that the woods were "thin of Timber 

 in many places, like our Parkes in England."'** In addition to restricting the 

 growth of shrubs and young trees, the firing of the woods also destroyed large 

 quantities of dry organic material, since, according to another writer in 1632, 

 "it consumes all the underwood and rubbish. ^ According to Dwight, "The 

 grounds, which were covered with Oak, Chestnut, etc. or with Pitch Pine, were 

 selected, for this purpose, because they alone were, in ordinary years, sufficiently 

 dry."l2 



Destructive practices initiated by the Indians were not only continued but 

 greatly extended by the white settlers. They continued for a time the bad prac- 



^Agriculture of Massachusetts, 4th Report (1841), p. 239. 

 '"New England Quarterly. IX, 220. 



'HVilliam Wood, New England's Prospect [1634] (Prince Society ed., Boston, 1865), p. 17. 

 '^Timothy Dwight, Travels in New England and New York (New Haven. 1821 ed.), I, 103. 



