SOILS OF NEW YORE 97 



had forty or fifty years ago. On the whole, this dis- 

 trict has not been able to hold its own in the agri- 

 cultural competition with the Middle West. 



THE GREAT LAKES PLAIN AND THE MOHAWK 

 VALLEY 



Stretching northward from the foot of the southern 

 plateau region, across the Great Lakes plain and the 

 slopes of the Mohawk Valley, is a deep accumulation 

 of glacial and glacial lake deposits. Here limestone 

 formations are most extensively exposed, and con- 

 tributed largely to the ice mill. The great depth of 

 the glacial ice, coupled with its choked movement 

 due to the highland to the south, formed deep masses 

 of till over most of the area and imparted to it 

 surface features favorable for tillage. Later, glacial 

 lakes occupied large areas in the lowlands and the 

 local ice deposits were eroded, reworked and scattered 

 over the lake floor in sheets of clay, silt, sand and 

 gravel. Numerous ponds and lakes were formed that 

 were subsequently filled with mud and by the growth 

 of plants form rich marsh soils. 



This is the region of the best soils and the highest 

 general agricultural development in the State. The 

 fertility and favorable physical condition of the soils, 

 combined with the low elevations and beneficent 

 climatic conditions, produce an intensity and diver- 

 sity of crop production, and a general agricultural 

 prosperity unsurpassed by any other state of the same 

 size, and seldom equalled or excelleil on the American 

 continent. The soils belong to two main divisions: 



