POTASH IN MASSACHUSETTS SOILS: 



ITS AVAILABILITY FOR CROPS 

 By F. W. Morse, Research Professor of Chemistry 



The Soil Survey Shows the Soils to be Derived from Potash Minerals 



The soils of Massachusetts have been surveyed and classified by the Bureau 

 of Soils of the United States Department of Agriculture; and the results have 

 been published from time to time, as one area after another was covered. The 

 survey of Plymouth County was made by W. B. McLendon and G. B. Jones, 

 and was the first to be published. The other counties were all surveyed by W. J. 

 Latimer, who was assisted by men supplied by the State Department of Agricul- 

 ture. The publications of Mr. Latimer's survey began with Norfolk, Bristol, 

 and Barnstable Counties, issued in one bulletin, and ended with Franklin County. 

 His continuous service gave consistency to the classification of soils into series. 



The system of classification is described in Soil Survey of Norfolk, Bristol, 

 and Barnstable Counties (p. 1058): 



Soils can be divided into three main groups. Those of the uplands, 

 where the materia! has been accumulated by the action of ice, and con- 

 sists of a heterogeneous mixture of rock flour, sand, gravel, and stones, 

 form one group. Another group includes the old stratified deposits 

 usually lying at lower levels in the form of plains and in areas of more 

 irregular topography. A third group comprises the areas of recent 

 alluvium along the streams, where the process of accumulation is still 

 going on. 



In each of these major groups ar,e minor groups, or what are called series. 

 A series includes soils with a common origin, which are similar in color of surface, 

 color and texture of subsoil, absence or presence of lime carbonate, and the depth 

 to the substratum and its character. Each series is further subdivided into soil 

 types which differ only in texture and are classified as loam, sandy loam, loamy 

 sand, and many other types. 



Since Massachusetts was completely subjected to the action of ice in the glacial 

 period, its soils have been formed from the drift left by it. In the Soil Survey of 

 Essex County (p. 12) Latimer says: 



In most places the glacial material from which the soils are derived, . . . 

 is made up of material of the same mineralogical composition as the 

 underlying rock. However, the ice movement from northwest to south- 

 east across the area did, to some extent, drag material from its source onto 

 the rocks to the south and southeast, but much of the material shows 

 evidence that it has not been transported very far. 



Since the glacial drift links the soil on its surface with the rocks beneath it, 

 the minerals composing the soil must be similar to those in the rocks, although 

 modified by weathering and plant growth. 



Granite and gneiss are the rocks most widely distributed throughout the State. 

 Both are made up of quartz, feldspar, and mica. Gneiss is finer grained than 

 granite and splits readily into thin blocks. Mica schist is also a widely distributed 

 rock. It contains more mica than granite and gneiss and splits into thinner sheets 

 than gneiss. Slate and phyllite resemble schist in cleavage but are not as soft 

 and are less common. Sandstone is common in the Connecticut Valley, and a 

 coarser rock called pudding-stone is noticeable in Norfolk and Bristol Counties. 

 They are classed together as conglomerate and contain a larger proportion of 

 quartz than is found in granites and schists. 



