10 SOILS OF THE EASTERN UNITED STATES. 



In other sections of the Atlantic and Gulf coast region it can not 

 be said that the Norfolk sand is so thoroughly utilized for those 

 special purposes to which it may best be put. Even where trans- 

 portation facilities are fairly adequate in thfe South Atlantic section, 

 and particularly in the Gulf Section, there still remain large areas 

 of the Norfolk sand which are grown up to a scraggly growth of 

 scrub pine or which are old fields not Used permanently for any 

 agricultural purpose. 



This arises from two causes: First of all, in the more southern lati- 

 tude, other varieties of soil, particularly the Norfolk fine sand, are 

 capable of producing the special crops at a date sufficiently early to 

 allow of competition with the areas of the Norfolk sand of more 

 northern latitudes. Secondly, these finer grained soils retain more 

 moisture, and for this reason produce somewhat larger yields than 

 the Norfolk sand. In consequence the trucker in the more southern 

 latitude selects the finer textured soil and produces not only a crop 

 sufficiently early to meet the market demands, but also secures a 

 larger yield usually at somewhat less expense than is the case upon 

 the Norfolk sand areas. For this reason, it is in the more northern 

 regions, from the vicinity of Cape Hatteras to the latitude of Long 

 Island, that the Norfolk sand has been particularly sought out and 

 most completely developed for the special purpose of producing extra 

 early market garden and truck crops. 



There still remain hundreds of thousands of acres of the Norfolk 

 sand from Cape Hatteras southward along the Atlantic coast and 

 westward throughout the Gulf States which give only small yields 

 of the general farm crops or are not cultivated at all. There is, 

 therefore, an almost unlimited opportunity for the extension of the 

 production of extra early truck crops upon the Norfolk sand, and this 

 opportunity occurs in the more southern latitudes where increasingly 

 early yields may be secured. 



The principal drawback to the cultivation of the Norfolk sand 

 has been a limited market for its special product. As the northern 

 cities grow and increase their demand for early fresh vegetables 

 there will be undoubtedly an extension of the occupation of the Nor- 

 folk sand for the production of those crops to which it is peculiarly 

 suited. It is probable that only the Orangeburg sand of the same 

 general region will ever be able to compete with* the Norfolk sand 

 as an extra early trucking soil. 



CROP ADAPTATIONS. 



General farm crops. Since the Norfolk sand occurs in areas which 

 are widely separated geographically and which lie under decidedly 

 different attendant conditions of climate, there is a considerable 

 variation in the classes of general farm crops which are produced to 



