BULLETIN OF THE 



ffiPMHIOFAfflCOlTlI 



No. 140 



Contribution from the Bureau of Soils, Milton Whitney, Chief, 

 April 5, 1915. 



SOILS OF MASSACHUSETTS AND CONNECTICUT, WITH 

 ESPECIAL REFERENCE TO APPLES AND PEACHES. 



By Henby J. Wildee, Scientist in Soil Survey. 

 SURFACE FEATURES. 



Southern New England consists of a hilly plateau highest at the 

 northwest and lowest along the seashore, the elevation showing a 

 general range from less than 50 feet at the shore to 1,800 feet in 

 the northwest, with an extreme altitude at Mount Grey lock of 3,505 

 feet. 



The surface features of this area are locally complex, but it is 

 nevertheless naturally divided into three upland blocks and two low- 

 land belts. These are, beginning at the west, the Taconic Mountain 

 section, with general elevation of 1,200 to 2,800 feet; the Berkshire 

 Valley; the Western Plateau, with general elevation ranging from 

 sea level on the south to 1,800 feet; the Connecticut Valley; and the 

 Eastern Plateau, extending from the Connecticut Basin to the coast 

 with general elevation ranging from sea level on the east and south 

 to 1,200 feet. 



For convenience in discussing the relation of the soil factor to 

 fruit growing, and because of the importance of the elevation factor 

 in such study, the Eastern Plateau is further divided on the basis of 

 elevation into the Coastal district; the Framingham-Boston low- 

 lands ; the Eastern and Southeastern Plateau, with general elevation 

 of 200 to TOO feet ; and the Eastern Highlands, with general elevation 

 of 700 to 1,200 feet, the lower part of this section being superseded 

 on the south by an extension of the Southeastern Plateau. Figure 1 

 shows the extent and relations of these several divisions. 



THE COASTAL DISTRICT. 



The Coastal Plain of the eastern United States does not extend 

 northward, in typical development at least, to southern New England. 

 The country from Plymouth-New Bedford eastward and northward, 



55570°— Bull. 140—15 1 



