Soil Types and the Distribution of Population in Otsego County, New York

Otaego County is a diversified region of about 1000 square miles, which has been settled 150 years. The people are largely of English and Dutch descent, and are distinctly inclined toward rural rather than Industrial occupation*. There has not been any large development of commercial or Industrial enterprises. The area Is a part of the Allegheny Plateau. Excepting a narrow, irregular border along the northern side, the surface of the County la incised by deep and rather narrow valleys. The main divides rise five or six hundred feet above the floors of the valleys. The broad tops of these regional divides, and the crests of the local ridges form much of the total area of the County, perhaps eighty per cent of it. The details of this upland topography embrace about all the variations expressed by the terms smooth, hilly, and steep, with all intergradations. Practically all lands, except those almost absolutely untlllable, were cleared and devoted for some time at least, to cultural purposes. There has been much reversion to forest growth on the less productive soils, although the extensive development of dairying admits of profitable utilization of much low grade grazing land. Less than five per cent of the total area of the County is annually plowed. The entire County was pretty well occupied and the population quite evenly distributed before the middle of the last century. Up to fifty years ago there seems to have been comparatively little changes in the number of inhabitants, and ninety-four per cent were still classed as rural. The census figures do not indicate the present actual distribution very well, because each of the twenty-four towns embraces both valley and upland areas, on which the number of families per square mile, respectively, is usually quite different. The larger shift of the population as a whole, as well as the marked decline In many of the townships, has occurred in the last thirty years. In some towns consisting chiefly of upland soil types, this decrease is more than twenty-five percent. Three provisional groups of soil types may be made: first, the upland types consisting chiefly of soils of sandstone derivation; a second group more or leas alkaline; while the third embraces all types found In the valleys. In the valleys there are few unoccupied farms, and none have been abandoned. These homesteads in the river valleys show a remarkable stability with respect to ownership, acreage, and maintenance of improvements. There have been fewer transfers by sale or otherwise than is the case in most farm communities in the mldwestern states. These farms consist chiefly of soil types easy to till, and rate comparatively high in productivity for all the usual farm crops. They also have a rather wide adaptation to fruits and vegetables. While favorably situated with respect to main highways, and the social services facilitated thereby, the valleys types will stand on their agricultural merits alone. Most of the farms in the small, narrow valleys consist only in part of such desirable types, but there Is no abandonment. These soils are Tioga, Genesee, Chenango, Palmyra, and Alton. All these better classes of valley lands broaden the uses of the adjoining poorer types, but this has its limitations. The thin Lordstown soils on adjoining slopes present much permanent pasture and reversion to woods, while the almost equally hilly Wooster soils remain in cultivation by reason of their superior productivity. Farms consisting wholly or in part of alkaline soils are rarely 'unoccupied, and none, so far as observed were abandoned. Isolated patches of these alkaline soils occur in inconvenient locations, but some people are still there, and the land Is in use. The Honeoye and Ontario silt loams are principal types In this group. The limited areas of shale, chiefly Manlius series, soils consist chiefly of fields now degraded to permanent pasture, and there are a number of unsuccessful farms. It is on the high uplands that the greatest changes in rural population have occurred. Now there are great acreages of smooth ridge crest and gentle slope that have not been plowed for many years. House sites are numerous, and the stone walls mark land lines, which are no longer of extreme importance. Here are found most of the abandoned farms. In many instances the buildings are still standing and the fields outlined by fences. The Lordstown, Lacawanna, Harden, Otsego and Valusia are the principal soils of this upland group. These soils possess quite good physical properties, however, and the smoothest phases are not especially difficult to till. All, however, are strongly acid, and inherently low in organic matter, while the ready response to fertilization Indicates the lack of available plant nltrients that other Incidatlons confirm. The yield per acre of all crops is considerably below the state averages for the same products. These soils require much care and good management for crop returns that are considerably below those of either of. the other two soil groups. As a somewhat general estimate lt may be said that three fourths of the farms consisting of the Lordstown and Lacawanna silt loans are either unoccupied, abandoned, or used only for such pasturage and hay as they afford, with little or no cultural care. The Harden and Otsego contribute in less measure to farm abandonment. Pew of these unoccupied or abandoned farms are more than five miles from railroads or main highways. Most of them are either on or near country roads, easily traversable with a car except at times in the winter. Neighboring farms more fortunately located with respect to soil types are commonly occupied by the owners, so that the.depression of loneliness and Isolation is limited for the most part, to the larger