THE NORTHERN HARDWOODS REGION 267 



region. Granites and gneisses are, however, the chief kinds of 

 bedrock. 



The soils are mainly rich, sandy, or clayey loams, with alluvial 

 deposits in the main valleys. They average deeper, have a 

 higher fertility, and contain less loose surface rock than the soils 

 in the spruce region. The soils are not, however, free from 

 stones. In a large majority of cases the soils could be used for 

 sheep grazing, if for no other form of agriculture, a fairly low 

 per cent being true forest soil. The distinction between farm 

 and true forest soil here depends chiefly upon the location of the 

 site. Almost all the soils are fertile enough for agricultural use 

 and the distinction can often be made correctly by considering 

 the very steep slopes as forest soils and other lands as farm soil. 

 The quantity of loose stone in the surface soil is another point 

 to be considered in assigning land to its best use. 



There is no data available for accurately giving the per cent 

 of true forest soil. It is estimated that less than twenty-five 

 per cent of the area can be so classified. At the present time 

 the estimated area forested is fifty per cent of the total. In the 

 rougher and higher portions, oftentimes, only ten per cent is 

 cleared, while in the stream valleys seventy-five or eighty per 

 cent may be cleared. Although much land of agricultural value 

 is still forested, the per cent now forested is not likely to de- 

 crease until agricultural conditions change decidedly. 



The forest is more broken in its distribution and is in less 

 extensive bodies than that of the spruce region. The main 

 stream valleys are almost always cleared, while the secondary 

 streams on their lower reaches, where descending precipitately 

 into the main streams, are apt to be forested. On the upper 

 courses of these secondary streams a large per cent of the agri- 

 cultural land is located, this being especially true of the Vermont 

 section where frequently the rounded summits of the lower hills 

 are cleared and furnish excellent farm land. Such a distribution 

 of the cleared land may make the region appear to a traveler 

 on the railroad as a very densely forested section, whereas if he 

 could pass up one of the heavily wooded ravines and climb a 



