86 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



Malagasco Drainage District. 

 Just south of Boylston Center and east of the Waehusett 

 Reservoir is a marsh of about 90 acres at the headwater of 

 Malagasco Brook, a tributary of the Reservoir. The marsh 

 owners in September, 1922, petitioned to have this marsh drained, 

 as it comprises the most valuable portion of their farms. This 

 area is known on the Metropolitan Water Board records as 

 swamp No. 1, and in 1889 that Board planned to drain the land, 

 but the inability to arrange for rights across the outlet of the 

 marsh resulted in the work being held up, and only a portion 

 of the ditches then planned were constructed. The formation 

 of a district clears away the legal obstructions to its drainage. 

 The Metropolitan Water Board decided not to proceed with their 

 previous plans. Organization under the petition has therefore 

 been carried out along customary lines, the hearing held, and 

 the district drainage commissioners have been appointed. 



Summanj of Expenditures for Year. 



Appropriation $2,200 00 



Cost of work of Drainage Board for year 1,975 12 



Balance unexpended $224 88 



Leslie R. Smith, 

 Secretary, Drainage Board. 



Soil Survey. 



The field work on the soil survey of Worcester County was 

 completed in October. This year the northern part of the 

 county was surveyed. The official report, to be prepared and 

 published by the Bureau of Soils of the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, will not be ready for some time, but some 

 of the general results can be stated. 



The county was found to have a large variety of soils, at 

 least fifteen classes, each appearing in one to five or six types. 

 One or more of these may be different from any soil class yet 

 found in any other part of the country. In the valleys they 

 are largely gravels, sands and gravelly or sandy loams, with 

 occasional areas of swamp, meadowy muck and peat. The tops 

 and slopes of the hills are largely covered with loams and stony 

 loams, and in some localities the hills are so steep or rocky as 



