Norwich bulletin., 1913-11-01

i mixed the soils in such a way as to make the soil map look like splurge of blotches.
 Expert McLendon, who made the survey and prepared the map found ten types of soil existing in the 421, 50 acres of the county Some of the ten are unimportant, agriculturally. The list includes 76S acres of coastal beach, which is just the strips of sand along the Sound shore: 3.648 acres of tidal marsh" 1880 acres of
 muck: 19, $40 acres of meadow"
 by which is meant poorly drained areas along streams and in depres- sions:'' and 48640 acres of rough stony land.' This last has scarcely any value except for the timber it supports" The much" lands are ''fn
 swampy condition and not generally used" but some areas are especially adapted for growing cranberries," and with good drainage they would produce heavy crops of hay and for age and prove suitable for cabbage, potatoes, onions, celery, etc" The meadow land is wet and undesirable in it's present condition" Draining would make it useable. The tidal marsh includes Iow-lying lands along the coast. subject to tidal oYer-
 flow Tt has scarcely any value though, if drained by dil1ing and pumping. it would become quite as productive as reclaimed inland swamps." Coastal beach has no agricultural value"
 There are also small areas, aggre- gating only about thousand acres, classed as "Podunk fine sandy loam." This is dark, rich soil, occupying narrow alluvial bottoms. some of it near Norwich along the Yantic. Where well drained and above over flow, 1t is a fine soil for all sorts of af15 51cr- ,i1I1v I1r . market gardening.
 This leaves about 341,o ,ooo acres which are divided between what have been termed the Gloucester and the "Merrimac" series of soils. Tn the uplands there is only one group or series of soils. the Gloucester" About the only difference between these series is that some are stonier than others, This soil is the result of dis integration and decomposition of the original rocks. which the big glacier didn't wholly sweep away but rather seems to have plowed through and more or less stones. It covers 278- 0S0 acres and includes "a very large part of the land under cultivation in the county" MT. McLendon thinks that as much as eighty per cent of its total acreage is cleared and eith- CT cultivated or used as pasture It is a good apple soil also easily adaptable to peaches and small fruits.
 Numerous dairy farms are located on this type" Both the yield and quality of Irish potatoes are very good" This soil is easy to handle and all the smoother areas will per init the use of machinery. It is valued from $25 to $100 an acre depending on location and improvements. 8 Even the stonier series in this "GlOucester' group are valuable for the forests they can or might SUD- port. All the soils in this group con tain a big proportion of silt. ranging sometimes as high as forty per cent.
 The "Merrimac" series, including a sandy loam and a gravelly Ioam. are found along all the streams of inn portance and lying in some old val Ieys not now occupied by streams. They are mostly in the shape of ter races, in some places clearly devel- oped, in others masked by the adia- cent conffguration. But they all come from stratified drift, i. e. from ma terial deposited by swiftly running water during glacial times" The more graVelly loam belonging to this series is 'leachy" and suffers in drought. Only a little of it is under cultivation. White birch and cedar nave supplanted the original growth of white pine, etc, over much of if It IS easily cultivated and warns LID early in spring, thus making it oc cas1onaIIy available for light tr1Iekins crops. The 'Merrimac" fine sandy foam, however. of which there are only lZ,800 acres in the county. lis hlghly pr1zed for farming and is nearly all under cultivation" It is