1900.] 



PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 33. 



67 



thus offering exception in this respect to the surrounding 

 localities. The Montague soil is one of these, and it will be 

 noticed by examining Table III. that the percentage of sand 

 is very high in this. It is not, however, the coarser varieties 

 but the finer which predominate, thus differing widely from 

 the sandy soil of Cape Cod. Notwithstanding this variation, 

 a large number of analyses show that the clay appears to fol- 

 low, as a rule, what might be termed a normal amount for 

 each particular region. It is therefore interesting to note in 

 this connection that the increase of clay as we pass inward is 

 fully as characteristic and uniform in the Massachusetts soils 

 as is the decrease of the sand. The differences existing be- 

 tween the texture of the coast and inland soils are sufficient 

 to exert considerable influence upon the growth of plants. 

 This difference is equally perceptible, v^hether we see the 

 soils in the field or in a table showing their analyses. 



Having paid some attention to the physical properties of a 

 few of our State soils, and their effect upon plant develop- 

 ment, we are able to ascertain approximately from a mechani- 

 cal analysis the characteristic properties of the constituents, 

 and what effect they exert upon the development of certain 

 crops. As a rule, we can divide the various constituents 

 directly in the middle ; that is, we can consider the four 

 coarser elements and the four finer constituents by themselves. 

 Such an arrangement of the soils is shown in Table IV. 



Table IV. — Shoiving Soils as in Table 7., arranged according to 

 the Percentages of Gravel and Coarse^ 3fedium and Fine Sand, 

 the Very Fine Sand, Silt and Clay being omitted. 



If, for example, a soil is rather low in the constituents 

 represented by the gravel and coarse, medium and fine sand, 



