SOILS OF MASSACHUSETTS AND CONNECTICUT. 19 



THE EASTERN HIGHLANDS OF MASSACHUSETTS AND CONNECTICUT. 



The upland soils of the Eastern Highlands are derived directly 

 from glacial material. No exception to this was noted, and the 

 glacial till is, for the most part, deep, even the hilltops having a 

 thick mantle. The Gloucester series is by far the most extensive, 

 but the Bernardston series is of importance in some localities. A 

 striking feature is the stony character of the lowland soils. In this 

 respect central Massachusetts, including much of the Eastern Plateau 

 Belt, seems to differ from the glaciated districts west of New Eng- 

 land, where the upland soils are generally more stony than the 

 lowlands. In Worcester County and in places in eastern Massa- 

 chusetts it is not unusual to find the lower-lying areas, which the 

 railroads for the most part traverse, so stony that no attempt is 

 made to cultivate them. Such lands were first cleared and used 

 probably as pasture and then allowed to grow up in brush, a condi- 

 tion which now largely prevails. That such lands are not tilled 

 leads the casual traveler to think them so unproductive as to be 

 sterile or nearly so. An examination reveals good soils in many 

 cases to be so stony that it is not practicable at present to put them 

 in condition for cultivation. There are exceptions to this statement, 

 of course, and some areas would become profitable if, the stones 

 having been removed, they were artificially drained. Drainage, in 

 fact, is an important problem in Massachusetts and to some extent 

 also in Connecticut, and some time in the future many drains will 

 be installed. Areas are not infrequently found that lack only drain- 

 age to permit profitable farming. 



In much of Worcester County the largest areas of cultivated land 

 lie on broad hills. The cultivated area often extends down a grad- 

 ual slope or in other cases terminates abruptly as a sharper slope is 

 approached. There is no uniformity in the selection of the areas 

 for cultivation. The lay of the land even leads one to wonder why 

 brushy fields adjoining those cultivated are not likewise tilled. An 

 examination shows that some are as desirable for tillage and some of 

 them even more so than the lands already farmed. Other areas of 

 identical superficial appearance, however, show the good judgment 

 of the owner in making no attempt to till them because of the stones. 



The value of these lands or lack of it has had little to do appar- 

 ently with their present use. Good lands were just as liable to be 

 abandoned as poor lands. 



That part of the Eastern Highlands extending from a line drawn 

 from Leominster, Mass., through Princeton and Barre south to in- 

 clude Charlton and Warren, and also Woodstock, Pomfret, and 

 part of Putnam, Conn., constitutes a good farming and orcharding 

 section. Between Barre and Warren, Mass., this area should be ex- 



