No. 4.] MARKET GARDENING. 121 



ing more sanitary conditions in the soil. While this in many 

 instances has been the direct purpose of its application, 

 growers no doubt have profited largely from other values. 



The most marked results from the use of lime have been 

 noted in the ISTorfolk region. Fertilizers are applied in very 

 large amounts in this section, and the practice has brought 

 about a soil condition which in many instances is most favor- 

 able to crop production. The Virginia Truck Experiment 

 Station, in co-operation with the United States Department 

 of Agriculture, has been particularly active in studying the 

 functions of lime when applied to the Norfolk trucking soils. 

 These results are reported in Bulletin ISTo. 1, under the name 

 of " Truck Crop Investigations and the Control of Malnutri- 

 tion Diseases." The soils of N'orfolk are of a sandy charac- 

 ter and belong to the Norfolk and Portsmouth series. They 

 are naturally unproductive, but respond quickly to fertilizers 

 which are often used at the rate of 3,000 pounds to the acre 

 during the course of a year, and in some instances larger 

 quantities have been applied. Green manurial crops have 

 never been generally used in the Norfolk region, although a 

 natural catch of crab grass, which grows during the latter 

 part of the summer, supplies quite a liberal amount of vege- 

 table matter to the soil. The free use of fertilizers, however, 

 in the Norfolk soils has caused an abnormal acid condition 

 which prevents the proper development of many plants. An 

 excessively acid condition of the soil not only contributes to 

 malnutrition but destroj's organic matter. In other words, 

 the investigators at Norfolk have concluded that the soil 

 must not contain a large amount of acidity, but that it must 

 have a large amount of organic matter in order to prevent 

 malnutrition. In the experimental plots of the Virginia 

 Truck Experiment Station, from 3,500 to 6,300 pounds of 

 lime have been required to neutralize the acidity of the soil 

 to a depth of one foot. Vegetable growers in all parts of the 

 country will do well to heed the results of the investigations 

 made at Norfolk. They indicate very clearly that growers 

 should endeavor to maintain the supply of vegetable matter 

 by the proper use of stable manures and green manurial 

 crops, and that in many instances lime can be used at a profit. 



