10 BULLETIN 140, U. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 



Since this report is not primarily a soil-survey report, the details 

 of location and character of the different soils can not be given; but 

 the main soil groups of southern New England are relatively simple, 

 though the details are complex. Soil groups are given a name, the 

 members in the group constituting what is technically called a soil 

 series. A soil series includes all soils with the same origin, color, 

 character of subsoil, and all other characteristics except texture, or 

 the coarseness or fineness of the soil particles. 



The most widely distributed soil series in southern New England 

 has been named the Gloucester series. It is typically brown in color, 

 grading toward a yellowish color on the one hand and a light-brown 

 color on the other. The subsoil is typically yellowish brown in color 

 and usually as heavy or heavier than the soil. In the heavier mem- 

 bers of the series in the lower subsoil, from about 24 to 36 inches and 

 deeper, the color sometimes changes to a drab or bluish color. The 

 soils of the series are well drained and aerated, uniformly oxidized, 

 and when they occur on smooth areas and have a fair to good supply 

 of vegetable matter are productive. They are derived from the crys- 

 talline rocks of the region, and the material was accumulated by depo- 

 sition from the ice of the glacial period. They occur on the rolling 

 and hilly uplands of the region. They are usually stony, but do not 

 have gravel or sand subsoils except possibly in rare cases. Their 

 water-holding capacity is normally good. Occasionally the clay sub- 

 soil is rather compact, resembling a hardpan, but true chemical hard- 

 pans are practically unknown. The most prevalent members of the 

 Gloucester series are the loam and the sandy loams, though the sand 

 is not absent. These various members may occur in any part of the 

 region, but the sandier members are more prevalent just east of the 

 Connecticut Valley basin than elsewhere. 



The most important and permanent agriculture in southern New 

 England, aside from the Connecticut Valley basin and the market- 

 garden areas around the large cities, has developed on the Gloucester 

 soils, and in both States they are the leading apple soils. 



The Bernardston soils are an upland series closely associated with 

 the Gloucester soils. They are gray to bluish gray in the soil and 

 subsoil. The dark color is due largely to the presence of small par- 

 ticles of the dark-gray slate from which the soils are derived. They 

 are usually heavier than the other series as a whole. Grasses both 

 for hay and pasture do well on these soils. They occur in a number 

 of places in the western part of the region, the type locality being 

 near the village of Bernardston, Mass. 



The Whitman soils are dark gray to black in color, with gray to 

 yellowish mottled subsoils. They occur in depressions or on fiat 

 areas where natural drainage is not good, the mottled subsoil being 



