THE NORFOLK FINE SAND. 7 



in case it is not possible through any circumstances to produce the 

 more valuable and more intensively farmed garden vegetables and 

 truck crops. 



LIMITATIONS UPON SPECIAL CROPS. 



Since the market garden and truck crops depend so largely for 

 their value upon the earliness with which they can be brought to 

 market, and also upon the fresh condition in which they can be mar- 

 keted, it follows that areas of the Norfolk fine sand which are located 

 near to good rapid transportation facilities will be far the most de- 

 sirable for the production of the trucking crops. While railroad 

 transportation is not absolutely essential, it is very desirable. On the 

 other hand, rapid water transportation offers some advantages 

 because of the freedom from jar which is given by this mode of trans- 

 port to perishable products like fresh vegetables, melons, and tender 

 fruits. Both means are employed for the shipment of large quanti- 

 ties of truck and fruit crops raised upon areas of Norfolk fine sand. 

 Areas of the same type equally well suited in every other respect, 

 except transportation, still remain in virgin forest or feebly occu- 

 pied for the production of staple 'crops, while small areas of the 

 Norfolk fine sand favorably located with regard to transportation 

 have been developed to the production of the more intensively farmed 

 special crops. 



There is another factor besides transportation which enters into the 

 production of the trucking crops upon the Norfolk fine sand along 

 the Atlantic seaboard. This is the factor of favorable location with 

 regard to local climatic differences. Those areas of the Norfolk 

 fine sand which are located near tidewater, and particularly near 

 the ocean, have a decided advantage in the protection from unseason- 

 able frosts which is afforded by the presence of large bodies of water 

 and by the off-shore presence of the Gulf Stream. Not only is the 

 season during which plant growth may take place considerably length- 

 ened on this account, but even in the months during which frost may 

 occur extremely low temperatures are much more rare than in loca- 

 tions removed from proximity to tidewater, especially if the latter lie 

 at considerable elevation. Thus not only the peculiarities of texture 

 and of drainage of the Norfolk fine sand, but also the location of a 

 considerable proportion of the type near to sheltering bodies of 

 water, give rise to its particular adaptation to the production of 

 early vegetables and market-garden crops. When to these advan- 

 tages there may be added proximity to lines of rapid transit, almost 

 ideal conditions for market-garden occupation arise. 



It is not infrequently the case that the proximity to water trans- 

 portation also enables the market-garden farmer or the trucker to 

 secure, through means of cheap transportation, considerable quan- 



