SOILS OF SOUTHEElsr XEW JERSEY AND THEIR USES. 69 



liave been recorded if a larger number of answers could have been 

 secured from Monmouth County, where the blanched asparagus is 

 :iuite extensively grown. 



The preference for a sandy loam soil for the growing of peas and 

 beans as early truck crops is marked. 



The iact that eggplant is grown on a wide range of soils with 

 Bome preference for sandy loam types is well reflected in the tabula- 

 :ion of the answers. Probably no other crop but peppers is grown 

 Dn soils varying so widely in texture as eggplant. Both crops are 

 aicked during a prolonged season and the trucker's requirements for 

 I special soil for their production is not so marked as in many other 

 3ases. 



The group for which a straight-out loam soil is preferred only in- 

 dudes three crops. Two of these are among the most important 

 ^rown in southern New Jersey. 



For sweet corn the preference is decidedly for a loam soil, yet 

 mough truckers are growing the crop in connection with the other 

 ?arly truck crops for 38 per cent of all. of the answers to express a 

 ^reference for a sandy loam soil. 



For onions, the loamy soils are preferred, yet a considerable num- 

 bers of answers chose the sandy loam soil. 



The most extensively grown special crop in southern New Jersey 

 s the Irish potato. For the production of this crop 60 per cent of 

 ;he correspondents preferred a loam soil and 6 per cent desired a 

 ' clay," probably referring to the Sassafras loam. It may, there- 

 core, be said with confidence that two-thirds of the 450 expressed 

 3 references indicate that a loam or heavy loam soil is best for potato 

 growing in southern New Jersey. The remainder of the answers ex- 

 Dressed a preference for a sandy loam soil. 



These facts correspond very closely with the recorded facts of the 

 ;rop and soil surveys of the four selected areas. Those surveys dis- 

 posed that the greater acreage of potatoes was grown on the Sassa- 

 [ras loam and that the Sassafras sandy loam and Collington fine 

 ;and loam were also extensively used for the crop. General observa- 

 ion also shows that the Collington sandy loam should be included in 

 he group of preferred potato soil. 



Only one crop is selected for production upon soils heavier in 

 exture than those required for potato growing. The cabbage crop 

 s to be grown either upon a loam or a heavy loam soil, if the pref- 

 erences of 187 southern New Jersey farmers are followed. This ac- 

 cords well with the facts as observed. The Sassafras loam is used 

 o some extent for growing cabbage. The soils of the Shrewsbury 

 md Keansburg series are also occupied by considerable acreages of 

 ;abbage. There is a general tendency in the intensive trucking 

 iistricts to plant cabbage upon the heaviest and most retentive soils 



