60 SOILS 



rock from 1-25 of an inch in diameter up to two or 

 three inches are gravel larger pieces are stones. 

 Gravelly and stony loams are most common in the 

 North, especially in the Northeastern states, where 

 they were formed by the work of glaciers. Most of 

 the pieces of rock are worn smooth. The presence 

 of a large quantity of small stones in a soil makes it 

 warmer, for rock absorbs heat more freely than 

 soil, and loses it more slowly, thus keeping the soil 

 warmer at night. If the stones are numerous 

 and large, however, the increased difficulty of 

 tillage may more than offset the advantage 

 of earliness. For this reason a gravelly loam 

 is usually more valuable than a stony loam. 

 A gravelly or stony sandy loam is sought when 

 extreme earliness is desired. Some of the most 

 profitable strawberry plantations in New York are 

 on this type of soils. As a rule they are better 

 adapted for fruits, especially small fruits, than for 

 staple farm crops. 



PEAT AND MUCK SOILS 



Peat and muck are the black soils produced 

 when a luxuriant growth of plants decays slowly 

 under water for many years. When the plants are 

 but partially decayed, so that the soil is very 

 spongy and fibrous, it is called peat. When decay 

 has progressed further, and especially when the 

 soil is alternately submerged and exposed to the 

 air, becoming finer, blacker and no longer fibrous, 

 it is called muck. Muck is an advanced stage of 

 peat. Both are passing through the same process 

 by which coal has been formed. 



Peat and muck swamps and bogs are found all 

 over the eastern United States, and in many parts 



