A study was made of some peat soil areas of western New York which were found to be unproductive for vegetable crops. Preliminary work indicated that these soils contained large amounts of zinc. Later, quantitative determinations were made which confirmed these observations. Greenhouse studies strongly indicated that an excess of zinc was responsible for the unproductive conditions observed in the field. Spinach plants growing on a productive peat oil to which had been added as much zinc as was naturally present in a poor soil had the same toxic symptoms as the plants growing on the poor soil. Essentially the same observations were noted when lettuce and carrots, respectively, were used as indicator crops. Chemical studies showed that the zinc was held in the soils largely in an exchangeable and not a water-soluble form. A detailed field survey was made in order to determine the distribution of zinc in the surface soils of the affected areas. The amounts of zinc found ranged from 0 to 6.7% on the basis of the dry weight of the soil. 18 references, 6 tables.