like depressions are found among these ridges where srnl 

 mucky surface material have accumulated. 



These different materials, under the varied conditions of their deri- 

 vation, deposition, and recent condition, have given rise to soils of the 

 Norfolk and Portsmouth series, in addition to the tide marshes and 

 coast sands. In the brief preliminary examination of the soils in the 

 vicinity of Savannah it was possible to identify with precision two of 

 the more important members each of the Norfolk and Portsmouth se- 

 ries. That other members of both series are associated with these was 

 also observed, but only the more extensive and at the same time more 

 directly valuable trucking soils were examined in any detail. It was 

 impossible in the time available to map or to estimate the total area 

 in acres or square miles of the four important types, but thousands 

 of acres of each exist within easy driving distance of the shipping 

 points in Savannah. 



NORFOLK SERIES. 



The types of the Norfolk series are marked by light-gray to yellow 

 sandy surface soils, underlain by yellow sandy or sandy clay subsoils. 

 The soils of this entire series, from its more northern extension south- 

 ward to the Gulf coast section, are special purpose rather than general 

 farming soils. The series comprises the most important truck soils 

 of the Coastal Plain. Each of the soils of this series is adapted to a 

 great variety of truck crops. Moreover, the fact that the several 

 soils of the series, differing in texture, all occur in nearly every part 

 of the coast section gives opportunity in each locality for growing 

 both early and late truck crops. At the same time the support of the 

 work stock, the preservation of the soil from erosion, and the main- 

 tenance of the organic matter of the soil by occasional green manur- 

 ing can be provided for by growing the necessary forage and cover 

 crops, to which most of the members of the series are adapted in 

 greater or less degree. 



Of this [Norfolk] series the fine sand, taken all in all, is the leading soil for 

 general trucking. In earliness it lies between the coarser soils on the one hand 

 and the finer on the other. It is less leachy and droughty than the Norfolk 

 sand or coarse sand, and is more easily kept in a productive state. Besides 

 the lighter truck crops, it is a valuable soil in Florida for the production of a 

 fine grade of Sumatra wrapper tobacco, and in North Carolina and Virginia 

 for cigarette tobacco and peanuts. In Maryland it is the best soil tor the 

 French type of tobacco. In trucking areas large acreages are devoted to straw- 

 berry culture. In the sea islands of South Carolina it is the principal soil 

 upon which the long-staple cotton industry has been developed. * * * 



The fine sandy loam is not so valuable for early truck as the fine sand, but 



is an excellent medium to late truck soil, and in some sections it is known as 



"cabbage land." In North Carolina it is esteemed a better cigarette-tobacco 



soil than the sandy loam and fully equal to the fine sand. It is better for 



[Cir. 19] 



