SOILS OF EASTERN VIRGINIA. 5 



Tomatoes from hothouses are marketed from just before Christmas 

 throughout the winter months, and the field crop from the middle 

 of June until the end of October. 



Spinach is shipped from the last days of October throughout the 

 winter months and until about the middle of April. 



Kale is shipped from the 1st of November until the middle of 

 April. 



Sweet potatoes are shipped as they are dug, from the latter part of 

 August to the end of October and from storage throughout the 

 winter and early spring months well into April. 



Aside from the hothouse and cold frame products, it is evident 

 that the greater part of the shipments for the Norfolk district occur 

 from the middle of April to the middle of August. Some crops are 

 marketed until November, but the distinctly winter truck crops — 

 spinach and kale — and such crops as are grown under hothouse con- 

 ditions or may be stored constitute the bulk of the shipments from 

 November 1 until well into April. 



These facts, in conjunction with the figures giving the volume of 

 shipment for the different crops, indicate that the Norfolk district is 

 marked by year-round activity in trucking, but that the greater 

 acreage and greater volume of business arise from the production of 

 early spring and summer crops. 



AGRICULTURAL POPULATION. 



The business of truck crop production is chiefly in the hands of 

 the native-born population of eastern Virginia and of a few individ- 

 uals who have been attracted from other parts of the United States. 

 The truck farms are operated either by their owners, by hired man- 

 agers, or by tenants. Practically all of the labor is performed by 

 colored laborers, including men, women, and the larger children, the 

 women and children being employed at the lighter tasks at certain 

 seasons of the year. A part of the labor is hired for extended periods 

 (by the month or year), but a considerable volume of transient labor 

 is also employed during the period of harvesting and marketing the 

 principal crops. 



PHYSICAL FEATURES. 



The entire Norfolk trucking district lies within the Atlantic Coastal 

 Plain. It is a region of low relief, no elevations greater than 30 

 feet above tide level occurring within Norfolk and Princess Anne 

 Counties. Portions of Isle of Wight and Nansemond Counties 

 rise to somewhat greater elevations. 



If a line be drawn along the Nansemond River southward through 

 Suffolk to the North Carolina boundary, it will be found that prac- 

 tically all of the territory lying to the east of this line lies at an 



