and the process is still going on. When the stream is swift, only the coarser 

 particles are deposited as heds of coarse sand and gravel. When the current 

 is slower, the stream lays down finer sediments of silt and clay along with 

 fine sand. As the stream changes course and the speed of the current is 

 increased or reduced at any one point, the character of the material de- 

 posited there will also change. As a result, the deposits at any one place 

 consist of layers which vary in texture from sands to loams to silty clays 

 which may occur at any depth. These stream bottoms are characterized by 

 a level to very gently sloping surface, with onlv a few- small areas of 

 steeper land. Most of the material has been in its present location for too 

 short a time for much weathering. 



Most of the bottom lands lie only a few feet above the level of the 

 streams, and for this reason the water table is close enough to the surface 

 to reduce the possibility of drought. In fact, more than two fifths of the 

 bottom land has a high enough water table to be classified as poorly to 

 very poorlv drained. 



All of the area is subject to Hooding, possibly not every year but often 

 enough to produce some hazard in the use of the land for crops. A study 

 of the data from partially completed soil surveys shows, however, that more 

 than two thirds of the well-drained fine sandv loams are used for the pro- 

 duction of field crops, including hay. This proportion increases on the land 

 which lies too high to be flooded frequently. In parts of the Connecticut 

 Valley, the soil material is finer textured and less acid, and as a con- 

 sequence, the proportion of cropland is higher. 



The soils developed on river bottoms are divided into five Management 

 Groups i 18-22 I as follows: 



18. Deep, very excessively drained loamy sands. 



19. Deep well-drained fine sandy loams and very fine sandy loams 

 I includes small areas of sandy loams ) . 



20. Moderately well-drained sandy loams to silt loams. 



21. Poorly drained fine sandy loams to silt loams. 



22. Verv poorlv drained floodplain soils. 



Soil Conservation Service 



Soils developed on river bottoms are productive but are subject to flooding. 



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