SITUATION OF TRUCK SOILS. 463 



AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS. 



In order thai wo may discuss intelligibly the connection between 

 the character of the native vegetation and that of the soil, especially 

 as affording an indication of the probable agricultural value of the 

 latter, it is necessary to describe briefly the principal crops of the 

 region, and to indicate the methods employed in cultivating them, as 

 well as the leading types of soil which are best adapted to each (Pis. 

 LXXVI, LXXVII). The chief cultivated plants of the country have 

 already been enumerated iu the description of the plant formations, 

 but there only in order to complete the picture of the plant covering 

 of the region. 



The most important of the crop plants of the Dismal Swamp region 

 can be classified as follows: (1) garden vegetables or truck crops, 

 (2) cereals, (3) cotton, (4) forage plants, (5) peanuts, (G) fruits. 



TRUCK CROPS. 



There is now an almost continuous strip of land along the coast of 

 the United States, from Massachusetts to southern Florida, which is 

 devoted to the production of market-garden vegetables, or "truck." 

 The country about Norfolk was one of the first in this belt to adopt 

 the trucking industry upon a large scale, and it is still equal in 

 importance to any other area, excepting, perhaps, that about New 

 York City. The different table vegetables can be brought to matu- 

 rity several weeks earlier in this mild climate than in the vicinity of 

 the large Northern cities which afford the principal market for them. 

 By the extension of the trucking industry much farther south than 

 southeastern Virginia, it has become possible to supply Northern 

 tables with most of the favorite vegetables in fresh condition through- 

 out the year. But this has not destroyed the market for truck raised 

 about Norfolk, because, while any particular vegetable grown, for 

 example, in South Carolina or in Florida reaches the Northern cities 

 much earlier than the Norfolk crop, there is a period following the 

 gathering of the more Southern and preceding the maturity of the 

 more Northern crop, during which the region around Norfolk has a 

 monopoly of the market for that particular vegetable. Consequently 

 there is a constant succession from South to North, during each sea- 

 son, in the maturing and marketing of each of the principal garden 

 vegetables. 



As lias been mentioned in the chapter on soils, the land which is best 

 fitted for the cultivation of these crops lies immediately upon or very 

 near the coast. There are several reasons fortius: First, the temper- 

 ing effect upon the climate of the neighborhood of the sea, which greatly 

 diminishes the danger of loss from late spring and early fall frosts; 

 second, the light, sandy, warm, and well-drained character of the soil, 

 which facilitates the process of forcing; finally, the convenience for 



