SOILS OF SOUTHERN NEW JERSEY AND THEIR USES. 71 



pressed a preference for a sandy or sandy loam soil for tomato grow- 

 ing, while 48 per cent of the replies indicated a preference for a loam 

 or heavy loam soil. It has already been shown that the latter group 

 corresponds to the canning-crop requirements, while the former indi- 

 cates the growing of tomatoes as a truck crop. 



Sweet com. — This crop was not mapped separately from field corn 

 in any of the four detailed surveys. 



Asparagus. — The mapped areas showed that 349.6 acres of aspar- 

 agus were grown on the sandy and coarse sandy loam soils. This 

 constitutes 85 per cent of the total acreage mapped. The Sassafras 

 sandy loam carried one-half of the remainder of the total acreage. 

 The answers to inquiries indicate 26 per cent of the farmers distinctly 

 preferring a sand soil and 61 per cent desiring a sandy loam soil for 

 this crop. It may thus be said that the more sandy soils are best for 

 asparagus growing. The existence of a sandy loami deep subsoil 

 was especially required in many of the answers. 



Cantaloupes. — The mapped areas of this crop showed 140.6 acres 

 grown on the soils of the sand and coarse sandy loam group. The 

 answers to inquiries indicate a preference for sandy soils to the ex- 

 tent of 25 per cent of the total and for sandy loam soils to the ex- 

 tent of 63 per cent. Loam soils were preferred in 12 per cent of the 

 answers. It will be noted that the Sassafras sand carried 93.1 acres 

 out of a total of 165.3 acres of the crop as mapped. The Sassafras 

 coarse sandy loam and sandj^ loam . carried the other important 

 acreages. 



Cabbage. — The Sassafras loam bore 31.1 acres of cabbage out of 

 42.5 acres mapped. The Portsmouth sandy loam carried 9.5 acres of 

 the remainder. In the answers to inquiries, 71 per cent of the grow- 

 ers preferred a -loam, while 11 per cent desired an even heavier soil. 

 The Portsmouth sandy loam, because of imperfect drainage, responds 

 to cropping in a manner similar to an ordinary loam. The agreement 

 of mapped facts and those derived from corresjDondence is close. 



Waternielons. — Within the mapped areas watermelons occurred to 

 the extent of 24.7 acres on the Sassafras sand, out of a total of 47.5 

 acres mapped. Eighty per cent of the crop was found on the sand 

 and coarse sandy loam group. In the replies to inquiries it was found 

 that 56 per cent of the replies favored a sand soil and 41 per cent a 

 sandy loam. 



None of the other minor truck crops were encountered in sufficient 

 area to permit of any very definite conclusions. 



Allowing for slight differences in the usage of soil nomenclature 

 as between the popular custom and the professional classification, the 

 correspondence between the two classes of evidence is seen to be 

 striking. 



