THE NORFOLK SAND. 5 



stronger winds in areas where it is not completely covered by forest, 

 and as a result low hillocks and rounded ridges of sand, quiescent 

 dunes, may be found in certain portions of the type along the inland 

 margin of the Coastal Plain areas or directly along the seacoast, where 

 such wind movement is continually tending to pile up all loose and 

 incoherent materials. Small areas of the Norfolk sand are sometimes 

 found along the steeper slopes which bound the main drainage ways 

 of the tidewater section of the Coastal Plain. These have been 

 formed by the outcropping of underlying sandy materials exposed 

 at the surface by erosion. With these exceptions the surface features 

 of the Norfolk sand are so nearly level that cultivation of all portions 

 of the type is easy. 



The surface of the Norfolk sand lies at heights ranging from sea 

 level to 400 or 500 feet. It is probable that by far the greater pro- 

 portion of the entire area of the type is to be found at altitudes of 

 from 25 to 250 feet. These areas constitute the portion of the 

 type most extensively cultivated. Among them the flat, slightly 

 elevated sections on the "river necks" in the estuarine portion of 

 the North and Middle Atlantic coasts have been most generally occu- 

 pied for the special purpose crops to which the Norfolk sand is 

 usually devoted. The predominance of such areas near tide-water 

 transportation, usually in locations which are climatically favored 

 by the presence of large bodies of water, has given the Norfolk sand 

 an unusual value for the production of special crops. 



Owing to the rather loose and incoherent texture of the Norfolk 

 sand, to the prevailing absence of any large amount of organic mat- 

 ter in either the surface soil or subsoil, and to its topographic posi- 

 tion within a region intersected by many large streams, the type is 

 unusually well drained. In fact it may be characterized through- 

 out as excessively drained for the production of general farm crops. 

 These features make the Norfolk sand preferable for growing special 

 crops rather than for general farming. 



Water erosion is not a marked feature of the different areas of the 

 Norfolk sand. Wind erosion in some instances interferes with the 

 cultivation and production of certain special crops. In the case of 

 an incoherent friable soil of this character, which is easily dried out 

 after each summer shower, the surface material becomes powdery 

 and lacks coherence. As a result strong winds blowing from the 

 coast country inland frequently pile up the cultivated surface soil 

 along the crop rows, interfering seriously with their growth or to- 

 tally smothering out low-growing plants. It is possible easily to 

 counteract this tendency through methods of cultivation, and par- 

 ticularly through the incorporation of large amounts of organic 

 matter in the soil. Similarly, apparently at some previous stage of 

 its existence, considerable tracts of the inland portion of the Nor- 



