CHAPTER III 



SOILS OF NEW YORK 



Few, if any, states have as large a variety of soils 

 as New York. This, when coupled with the existing 

 differences in elevation and in climate and varied 

 nearness to market, forms the basis of a wide range 

 of cropping scliemes and of agricultural development. 



The soils of almost the entire State have been 

 formed under the influence of glacial processes. As 

 has been stated, the glacial incursion came into the 

 State from the north and covered all but a small angle 

 of country south of the Allegheny River, in Catta- 

 raugus County. The general movement of the ice 

 was deflected by the contour of the land surface. 

 Tongues of ice in the valleys protruded far forward 

 of the main mass. In the Mohawk Valley the gen- 

 eral direction of movement of the ice as shown by 

 scratches on the bed rock was nearly east and west, 

 due to the deflection of its movement around the 

 Adirondack Mountains from the Hudson Valley on 

 the east and the St. Lawrence Valley on the west. 



In studying the soils of New York, it is important 

 to keep in mind three facts: First, that the ice 

 moved in general from the north; second, that the 

 exposure of the different rock formations lay across 



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