SOILS OF EASTERN VTROHSTlA. 9 



The Churchland Area. 



A detailed soil and crop map was made in the vicinity of Church- 

 land in the summer of 1916. It covers approximately 1,180 acres of 

 intensively tilled land. The area included lies along the Western 

 Branch of Elizabeth River. It is bounded on the eastern, southern, 

 and western borders by tidewater, while its northern boundary is an 

 arbitrary line. The surface of the upland is nearly level, rising 

 scarcely more than 15 feet above tide level at its greatest elevation. 

 Along the tidewater margins there is usually a steep slope from the 

 general surface down to water level. This narrow border presents 

 practically the only steeply sloping land within the area. Slight 

 depressions and small streamways exist within the upland, but the 

 greater part of the surface is so nearly level that intensive cultivation 

 is carried on over practically every acre. 



This area includes the territory within which truck farming has 

 been carried on from the beginning of specialized farming in the Nor- 

 folk district and is one of the most intensively cultivated areas in the 

 district. 



The detailed soil and crop map of the Churchland area was made 

 on the scale of 6 inches to the mile, or 1 inch to 880 feet. 1 Upon this 

 map the different soils are plotted in great detail and the boundaries 

 of each field or crop area are shown. From this map it is possible 

 to ascertain the actual crop occupation of each soil type at the time 

 of the survey, to measure the total areas of each type occupied by 

 the different crops, and to compute the relative importance of the 

 different soils for the growing of each crop. 



In order that both spring and fall conditions might be shown in 

 this region of year-round farming, crop maps were made in June and 

 late in August. 



SOILS. 



It was found that even within this small area there are seven dis- 

 tinct soil types or conditions, exclusive of tide marsh, the area of 

 which is negligible, and of the sloping areas along the shores, which 

 are not used for any agricultural purpose. 



Sassafras Jine sandy loam. — The surface soil of the Sassafras fine 

 sandy loam, to a depth of 9 inches, is a friable, brown loamy fine 

 sand. This is underlain to a depth of about 18 inches by a yellow, 

 loamy fine sand, which grades downward into a rather stiff, reddish- 

 brown loam. 



The surface of this type is nearly level or only slightly sloping. 

 The type lies adjacent to tidewater and is usually bounded on the 

 outer margins by rather steep slopes. Toward the interior it grades 



1 For publication the several maps have been reduced to a uniform scale of 1 inch to 1,000 feet. 

 These maps will be found at the end of this bulletin. 



