Even if artificially drained by ditches or tile, a soil formed under water- 

 logged conditions is not the same as one formed from the same materials 

 on a well-drained knoll. 



Much of New Hampshire is composed of granite which gave rise to 

 coarse textured soils, usually sands and sandy loams. Along the western 

 side and across the southern part of the State are belts of schist. Soils 

 formed from this type of rock material contain more fine particles and are 

 frequently classified as loams. 



All New Hampshire soils have been classified and mapped by soil series 

 and soil types. A soil series is a particular kind of soil which is given the 

 geographic name where it was first defined. An example of a soil series is 

 Colebrook, named after a town in northern New Hampshire. 



The Colebrook series, for example, occurs over a wide area and con- 

 tains several different surface texiures such as loamy fine sand and fine 

 sandy loam. When the series name Colebrook is attached to the name of 

 the surface texture, the resulting name is a soil t\pe. such as Colebrook 

 fine sandy loam. 



I 



Generalized Soil Association Map 



The Generalized Soil Association iVIap^ of the State (Figure 8) shows 

 six areas which are characterized by certain kinds of soil. Actually, each 

 area contains many individual areas of soil but they are too small to show 

 on a map of this scale. Figure 8A shows the location of county agricultural 

 offices. 



Area 1 (brown). Hermon-Berkshire-Rockland (mountainous), which 

 includes most of the northern half of the State, is characterized by stony 

 and very stony soils on glacial till, which are frequently shallow to bedrock. 

 It is also characterized by cool weather and a short growing season. This 

 section includes the White Mountains and other steep, hilly land in the 

 foothills. Most of the soils are naturallv well-drained, largely Soil Manage- 

 ment Groups 10, 11, 29. 30, and 31.^ ' 



Area 2 (red), Berkshire-Charlton-Whitman, consists of several dis- 

 connected areas of glacial till where schist has been an important part of 

 the soil-forming material. Schist breaks down readily into fine particles, 

 and the soils formed from it are largely of loam and very fine sandy loam 

 textures. The largest block of this material is in a belt along the Connecti- 

 cut River, but other areas are scattered across southern New Hampshire. 

 It contains soils which are mostly in Soil Management Groups 1. 3. 4, 7, 

 and 10. 



Area 3 (yellow), Hermon-Gloucester-Whitman, making up most of the 

 southern half of the State, is an area of glacial till mainly from granitic 

 rock, which gives rise to sandy loam and fine sandy loam soils. This area 

 dominantly consists of Soil Management Groups 2, 3, 5. 10, and 29. 



Area 4 (green), Colton-Merrimac-Sudbury, consists of soil formed from 

 beds of loose sand and gravel. The land is usually quite level. Although the 



1 Adapted from more detailed Soil Association Map prepared by Walter H. Lyford, 

 Soil Surveyor, Agronomy Department, University of New Hampshire. 



2 Soil Management Groups are discussed in Chapter IV. Soil Management Groups 

 and Crop Adaptations, and in Appendix B. 



16 



