NATURAL LAND TYPES OF MASSACHUSETTS 

 AND THEIR USE 



By A. B. Beaumont, Extension Soil Conservationist 



Farmers have always recognized natural land characteristics as im- 

 portant factors governing land use; often, but not always, they are the 

 determining factors of land use. Natural land characteristics fall into two 

 general groups: permanent or fixed, and impermanent or transitory, de- 

 pending upon whetlier they may be altered or modified by man acting 

 directly or by natural forces directed by man. 



Among the permanent land characteristics generally recognized as im- 

 portant in determining land use in New England are slope, elevation, 

 texture and depth of soil, and nature of subsoil. To these is now added 

 erodibility, or the capacity of a soil to erode, a soil characteristic heretofore 

 not generally recognized in this section as of much importance m de- 

 termining land use. 



Impermanent land characteristics of importance in land use in New 

 England include soil reaction, or the condition of the soil with respect to 

 an adequate supply of lime; nutrient level, or state of fertility; and the 

 nature and condition of the soil organic matter. Drainage and stoniness, 

 two important land-use factors, may be considered permanent or imper- 

 manent, depending largely upon the economic aspects of modification. 



It is the purpose of this bulletin, first, to report and interpret some 

 data on natural land characteristics in relation to land use, and s.°cond, to 

 present methods of land classification for use considered both applicable 

 and practicable for Massachusetts conditions. 



A Study of Natural Land Characteristics Affecting Land Use 



In a study' of factors affecting land use in several towns of Worcester 

 County, certain data concerning land characteristics were collected. Field 

 mapping was done on a scale (1"=200' or 1"=660') sufficiently large to 

 show areas as small as one-quarter acre. The information collected on 

 the physical features is somewhat unusual in respect to the detail inapped. 

 and is, therefore, valuable as a source of more precise knowledge of fac- 

 tors hitherto subject to rough estimate or opinion. Soil type, perceni of 

 slope, degree of stoniness, and character of erosion were mapped. Forty- 

 eight soil types in seventeen correlated series and several provisional series, 

 totaling 13,211 acres, were mapped. The soils mapped included one or 

 more series in each of the principal topographic groups of the area studied. 

 Summarized data are presented in tables 1 to 6. 



Influence of Slope on Land Use (Table 1.). — In the area under considera- 

 tion, where dairy farming is the major farm enterprise, pasture competes 

 favorably with crops for the nearly level land (A slopes); 33.5 percent in 

 pasture against 35.5 percent in crops. On all other slopes pasture has 



'A cooperative study conducted jointly by the U. S. Bureau of Agricultural Economics, 

 the U. S. Soil Conservation Service, Harvard University, and Massachusetts State College. 

 Data published in mimeographed form by the Massachusetts Extension Service as "A 

 Statistical Study of Land-I^se Data," Release No. 1 of Worcestep County Land-Use Plan- 

 ning Project, December 1940. 



