26 BULLETIN 140, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTXJEE. 



courses as above mentioned and also scattering sharp hills and ridges, 

 from which slow, yet long-continued, erosion has removed consider- 

 able parts of the soil mantle. Most areas of this sort are stony, 

 while some of them are very much so, and ledges often protrude. 

 Along the latter the depth of the soil is far from uniform, as the tilt 

 of the ledge plain varies all the way from nearly horizontal to 

 perpendicular. 



As "Apple Valley," in the towns of Ashfield and Buckland, has 

 earned a somewhat noted and well-deserved reputation for its 

 orchards, the character of its soils are of special interest. The soils 

 range from light loams to heavy loams and clay loams, the textures 

 of the subsoils being similar in range. The soils are all derived from 

 deep glacial till. Some fields are comparatively free from stones 

 and others are very ston^, but most of the valley is moderately stony. 

 The soils are productive, but the men of the section must be given 

 credit for having used them skillfully. Soils as good for orcharding 

 and farming occur in various places in the hill towns of western 

 Franklin and western Hampshire counties that should be equally 

 developed. 



Orchard and farm lands can be bought in the Western Highland 

 section of Massachusetts for $10 to $30 an acre, and on tracts of 100 

 acres or more very good farm buildings are often included at the 

 latter price. Farms of 100 to 150 acres with good buildings are to 

 be had for $5,000. These prices can be duplicated in western Con- 

 necticut, except where the purchase of farms by outside residents 

 has led to a marked increase in prices. This applies more especially 

 to the southwestern part of the State. 



In the southeastern part of the Western Highlands in Massachusetts 

 and in the northeastern part in Connecticut dissection has been very 

 deep, especially in the towns of Eussell, Blandford, Montgomery, 

 Chester, and Huntington, where the slopes above the channel of the 

 Westfield River are exceedingly steep, broken, and rocky, and in 

 those towns of Connecticut along the break in the highlands toward 

 the Connecticut and Farmington Valleys. Local areas are some- 

 times too rough even for feasible forestry planting, yet here and 

 there are smooth, rounded hills or moderate slopes of sufficient area to 

 afford good sites for orchards and other crops. The soils of one 

 large tract examined in western Hampden County included loams — 

 heavy, medium, and light — the subsoils rarely being as heavy as clay 

 loams. Traces of hardpan sometimes occur, but suitable areas free 

 from this difficulty are readily found. Spouty and seepy slopes, 

 which are sometimes encompassed in desirable fields, it is practicable 

 to drain artificially. 



That part of Hampshire County between the Connecticut Valley 



