SOILS OF SOUTHERN XEW JERSEY AND THEIR USES. 57 



and sandy loam soils dominate the Thorofare area. The preponder- 

 ance of truck crops over general farm crops is marked and four truck 

 crops lead any general farm crop in acreage. Even Irish potatoes 

 are a negligible crop on the Sassafras sand, the chief acreage being 

 grown on the sandj^ loam. 



The conclusion to be drawn is that sandy soils are best suited to the 

 production of truck crops. They are not well suited to the profitable 

 production of general farm crops. These facts are well known in 

 southern New Jersey and the farm practices of the region have be- 

 come adjusted to them. 



Again the differ'ences in cropping which have been shown to exist 

 may be exactly correlated with the differences in the properties of the 

 prevailing soils. 



RELATION OF SOILS TO CROP USES IN THE DETAILED AREAS. 



The four areas of which detailed soil and crop maps were made in 

 1914 and 1915 in southern New Jersey show a total measured 

 area of 8,848.5 acres, while 8,919.6 acres of different classes of occu- 

 pation were recorded. This over-run of occupation above total acre- 

 age is due to the fact that interplanting of crops is a common prac- 

 tice in three of the areas. The most notable instances are those in 

 which berries, corn, or truck crops are planted between the rows of 

 orchard trees. There are also many notable instances in which the 

 various truck crops are interplanted. Chief among these are the 

 growing of an early crop of peas with such spacing that tomatoes 

 may be set between the rows, the interplanting of beans or peas be- 

 tween the rows in young asparagus beds, the planting of tomatoes 

 between the rows of 3'oung strawberry beds, and the growing of a 

 rapid succession of minor vegetables to aid in making up a varied 

 load of produce on the market wagon. 



Naturally, such practices are more evident where intensive truck- 

 ing prevails and are chiefly to be found in the Thorofare area. 



A tabulation of the different soil types encountered in the four 

 soil and crop surveys shows that there are 11 types which are of suffi- 

 cient extent to be considered dominant soils. There are also 10 other 

 types which are of minor extent. These 21 different types, therefore, 

 are separated into two main groups, the dominant soils, which exert 

 an appreciable influence upon the agriculture of the areas, and the 

 subordinate soils, which are of little agricultural importance within 

 the limits of these surveys. 



The dominant soils are arranged into three subgroups. Those 

 soils which are marked by complete surface and internal drainage to 

 such a degree as to tend toward a droughty condition are classed in 

 the sand and coarse sandy loam group. Those which are decidedly 

 retentive of moisture, either through circumstances of texture or 



