New York Soils

The New York State Soil - Honeoye

The word “Honeoye” is from the Iroquois  “Hay-e-a-yeah.” Legend indicates that a Seneca brave was bitten by a rattlesnake, had to cut off the bitten finger, and later described the location of the incident as the place “where the finger lies.”

Honeoye soils are used for corn, soybeans, wheat, oats, vegetables, alfalfa, grass pasture and hay, and grape and apple orchards. Woodlots contain sugar maple, white ash, red and white oak, hickory, and associated species. These productive soils occur on about 500,000 acres in New York State. Honeoye soils are fertile, have a high base saturation throughout, and are slightly acid at the surface and neutral in the subsoil.

The Honeoye series consists of very deep, well-drained soils formed in glacial till which is strongly influenced by limestone and calcareous shale. They are nearly level to very steep soils on convex upland till plains and drumlins. The Honeoye soil is in the Alfisols soil order and is classified as fine-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Glossic Hapludalfs.

To honor this natural resource, New York unofficially named Honeoye as the state soil.

New York Soil Survey Mapping Status

Soil surveys are the basis for predicting the behavior of a soil under alternative uses, its potential erosion hazard, potential for ground water contamination, suitability and productivity for cultivated crops, trees, and grasses. Soil surveys are important to planners, engineers, zoning commissions, tax commissioners, homeowners, developers, as well as agricultural producers. Soil surveys also provide a basis to help predict the effect of global climate change on worldwide agricultural production and other land-dependent processes.

New York Status of Soil Survey Digitizing

In 1995, a national effort implemented the digitizing of all soil surveys so accessibility to users would be more easily available. Currently New York has digitized 57 Soil Survey Areas. The digitized database provides the most detailed level of information and was designed primarily for farm and ranch, landowner/user, township, county, or parish natural resource management and planning. Using the soil attributes, this database serves as an excellent source for determining erodible areas, developing erosion control practices, and reviewing site development proposals and land use potential. Digitized maps also assist with making land use assessments and chemical fate assessments; and identifying potential wetlands, sand, and gravel aquifer areas.

• Soil Data Mart - New York

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