THE NORFOLK SAND. 15 



% 



In all of the more northern areas where the Norfolk sand is chiefly 

 utilized for the production of truck crops, it is essential that winter 

 cover crops such as crimson clover or rye should be grown between 

 seasons. These crops should be turned under at an early date in the 

 spring in order to furnish a renewed source for organic matter in the 

 surface soil. In the use of such crops it is frequently desirable that 

 after the turning under of the green manuring crop, burned stone 

 lime should be applied at the rate of 1,500 to 2,000 pounds per acre 

 in order to promote the decomposition of the green manure. 



In the Middle Atlantic States from Virginia southward crimson 

 clover may be used as the winter green manuring crop or cover crop, 

 and in addition the winter or hairy vetch is well suited to this lati- 

 tude and soil for the purpose mentioned. Winter rye or winter oats 

 may be used among the nonleguminous crops. It is usually a good 

 practice in this section to produce a crop of cowpeas where possible, 

 which may be sown upon the land used for the production of the 

 earlier truck crops and freed from those crops during the early por- 

 tion of the summer. The cowpeas will come to a sufficient degree of 

 maturity to furnish a large amount of valuable green manure if 

 turned under in time for the preparation of the land for the truck 

 crops in the succeeding spring. Farther south the velvet beans and 

 bur clover are as valuable as the cowpeas for such purposes. Thus, 

 under different climatic conditions and under different conditions of 

 tillage of the Norfolk sand, a variety of crops which either grow 

 during the latter part of the summer or early fall or even during the 

 winter may be produced for the sole purpose of being turned under 

 for the maintenance and restoration of organic matter. A greater 

 degree of attention to this care of the soil will always result in in- 

 creased crop yields upon the part of the succeeding market crop and 

 the permanent increase of the crop producing capacity of the soil 

 itself. 



FARM EQUIPMENT. 



The tools and equipment used for the cultivation of the Norfolk 

 sand vary decidedly in the different districts where the type is de- 

 veloped. In all of the trucking regions the areas cultivated by the 

 single owner or tenant are small. In consequence the 1 -horse hitch 

 and small tools for intensive cultivation are most commonly em- 

 ployed. Farther to the south where the Norfolk sand is used to some 

 extent for the production of corn and cotton the prevailing 1-horse 

 or 1-mule hitch and the light-weight general-farming tools are also 

 employed. In almost all instances these tools are adequate for mov- 

 ing and stirring sufficiently the mellow, incoherent surface soil. 

 They are certainly adequate for the later cultivation of the type unless 

 large areas of a single crop like corn are included in the farming 

 system. 



