10 BULLETIN" 140, U. S. DEPARTMENT OE 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 flat 
areas where natural drainage is not good, the mottled subsoil being 
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