SOILS OF EASTERN VIRGINIA, 27 



Cabbage, covering 36.9 acres, kale to the extent of 31.2 acres, and 

 fall potatoes, covering 28.5 acres, are the other important fall and 

 winter truck crops. 



The area in forest is higher than on the June map, as some forested 

 land was cleared and placed under cultivation in the winter of 1915-16. 

 The area of cleared land not cropped is high from the fact that a con- 

 siderable tract was not being farmed. 



The restrictions of winter truck crops to certain soil types is rather 

 marked. The Sassafras and Norfolk coarse sandy loams occupy 

 only 30 per cent of the total area mapped, but they carry more than 

 50 per cent of the total acreage of truck crops. The Sassafras fine 

 sandy loam and loam are also important truck crop soils. The Nor- 

 folk loam, Norfolk gravelly loam, the Suffolk gravelly loam, and 

 Suffolk loam cover nearly 51 per cent of the area but support only 

 30.3 per cent of the truck crop acreage. 



It is evident that only the best drained soils of the locality are uti- 

 lized for growing the crops which occupy the land during the winter 

 or throughout the year. 



With reference to individual truck crops, it appears that spinach 

 is grown chiefly on the Sassafras loam, which carries 54.7 acres, or 

 53.5 per cent of its area, in the crop; on the Sassafras fine sandy loam, 

 bearing 40.5 acres, or 26.2 per cent of its area in spinach; and on the 

 Sassafras coarse sandy loam, which carries 65.7 acres, or 23.5 per 

 cent of its area in that crop. As the Norfolk coarse sandy loam 

 bears 48.8 acres of spinach, or 16.6 per cent of its area, nearly 80 per 

 cent of the entire acreage of spinach is found on these 4 types of soil. 



Nearly two-thirds of the acreage in strawberries occurs on the 

 Sassafras and Norfolk coarse sandy loams. This is fairly comparable 

 with the spring conditions, since the crop continues on the ground 

 throughout the year. 



The largest acreage in cabbage is on the Norfolk coarse sandy 

 loam, 19.2 acres, or 6.6 per cent of the area of the type. This is a 

 little more than one-half of the total fall planting of cabbage. The 

 greater part of the remaining acreage in cabbage occurs on the Nor- 

 folk gravelly loam and the Suffolk loam. 



The Norfolk coarse sandy loam carries nearly one-half of the total 

 area of kale. 



More than two-thirds of the fall potato crop is planted on the 

 Norfolk coarse sandy loam. 



The fall crop of snap beans is chiefly interplanted with strawberries 

 on the Sassafras and Norfolk coarse sandy loams, while a large part 

 of the pole lima bean crop is grown on the Norfolk gravelly loam. 



Several characteristic features of the cropping system followed in 

 the section around Diamond Springs are shown by the two maps. 



