10 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 385 



moisture, and content of lime and the common plant nutrients. They 

 differ in color and the content of easily soluble iron, both of which are 

 due to differences in the parent rock material of the two series. These 

 series are at present used for the same types of farming with about equal 

 success. It is not thought that the color difference is or will be found to 

 be significant from the standpoint of use. The difference in content of 

 available iron may be significant, particularly from the standpoint of pro- 

 ducing crops of high iron content and therefore of greater therapeutic 

 value in preventing anemia in man or beast. 



Natural Land Types 



Of the many methods which have been proposed for classifying land for 

 use, one of the most useful and practicable is that based on the natural 

 land type.^ A natural land type is defined as a body of land having a 

 given set of physical, chemical and biological characteristics. In its sim- 

 plest form a land type may be identical with a soil type or a phase of a 

 soil type. It may, and usually does, comprise two or more soil types or 

 phases of them; it may even cut across soil types. It meets the need for 

 a unit of land which is broader than the soil type, is more restricted than 

 the soil group, and is capable of areal delineation. A good soil survey is 

 an excellent basis for a land-type classification, but it is not indispensable; 

 land types can be mapped directly in the field. 



Natural land-type classification is being developed in connection with 

 county land-use planning work in Massachusetts. This classification is 

 essentially an interpretation of the soil survey in terms of land use. It 

 simplifies the soil surve}^ puts the valuable and extensive information 

 contained in it into a form which can be readily understood by those not 

 trained in soil technology, and reduces the number of land units to a 

 workable number. In Essex County 50 soil types were reduced to 13 

 land types. Soil types or their phases having closely similar natural char- 

 acteristics are grouped together to form land types. Provided no soil type 

 is divided between or among land types, the land-type map is as accurate 

 as the soil-type map from which it is made. In placing the soil types in 

 land-type categories it is usually necessary to supplement the information 

 given in the soil survey with some field work. 



The land-type classification as developed in Massachusetts is useful 

 especially in large-scale, or area, land-use planning. The scale on which 

 the maps are made is 1:62,500 (approximately 1 inch to the mile), which is 

 the same as that of the soil-type map. This scale is not large enough for 

 detailed land-use planning on individual farms, but can be used with 

 facility for such large-scale planning as locating areas suitable for certain 

 types of farming, delineating areas unsuited to farming, and deterinining 

 or analyzing causes of problem areas. An example of a natural land-type 

 classification is that developed for Essex County, given in table 7.^ This 

 kind of land classification can be developed for each county of the State. 

 Rarely will the outline for any county be found entirely applicable to 

 another; each county must be considered individually. 



''Beaumont, A.B. The natural land t.viie in land-use planning. 



Southwest. See. Sci. Quart. 18 (3):231-234 (1937). 



"This classification was developed with the assistance and cooperation of Francis C. 

 Smith, County Agricultural Agent, and Alton G. Perkins, Instructor in Soils, Essex County 

 Agricultural School. 



