150 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 267 



deepening interest in campus plantations. This interest has touched both the 

 pictorial development of the campus and the scientific study of the materials 

 themselves. There have been progressively better identifications, better label- 

 ing and better records. 



The work was not originally planned as a piece of research, though the 

 experimental purpose was strong in many of the plantings. As time has gone 

 on, however, the results have assumed increasing scientific importance and 

 practical value, and it is now felt that the experience gained in the sixty-five 

 years of work and study on this campus begins to have some substantial val- 

 ue. The plant notes oifered in tlie following pages are based on the experi- 

 ence and records of these years, and it is hoped will be of some use to aU 

 others who are interested in hardy trees, shrubs, and vines for New Eng- 

 land, and especially to those most directly concerned, as nurserymen, land- 

 scape architects, and all persons in charge of the development of jjuhlic and 

 private grounds. 



Edaphic Conditions 



The subjoined notes on species and varieties may be better interpreted per- 

 haps with some knowledge at hand of soil and climatic factors. 



The Massachusetts Agricultural College is located in the Connecticut Val- 

 ley in western Massachusetts. The elevation above sealevel is 200-300 feet. 



For the most part the soil is a silty loam with a tendency toward coarser, 

 more gravelly portions. The subsoil is mainly gravel. The main campus lies 

 on the silted bed of an extinct lake — old Lake Hadley of postglacial times. 

 The shore of the lake traversed the campus toward one side so that while 

 most of the plantings here reported occupy the lake bottom, others fall 

 upon the old beach and a few stand above the ancient water line. Here the 

 beach was formed against the side of a drumlin, also of a homogeneous grav- 

 elly character. Both drumlin and lake bottom offer, in texture and drainage 

 qualities, exceptionally favorable conditions for tree growth. While not rich 

 in plant foods, the soils are by no means sterile. They are remarkably easy 

 of cultivation but inclined to suffer early from drought. 



Climatic Factors 



The more important climatic factors are herewith summarized from the 



local observer's records- which cover forty years from 1889 to 1928. 



Air Temperature formal Extremes 



Highest 95.8 101, 1919 



Lowest —12.1 —26.0, 1904 

 Mean 47.2 



Precipitation 



Precipitation, inches 43.4 57.05, 1897; 30.68, 1908 



Snow, inches 48.38 78, 1920; 24.5, 1919 



Frost 



Last Frost May 12 Apr. 23, 1904; June 3, 1908 



First Frost Sept. 19 Aug. 22, 1894; Oct. 13, 1909 



* Gunness, Meteorological Observations, Mass. Agr. Expt. Sta. Meteorological Series. 

 Bui. 492. Dec. 1929. 



