Die 
from cultivation, although it was almost certainly lumbered, burned, 
and browsed by cattle. This forest has not been cultivated at least 
since 1846, 
Colonial cultivation methods encouraged erosion and the development 
of hardpan. After a few tobacco crops the land was briefly farmed to 
corn and wheat, then abandoned. Tobacco exports periodically flooded 
the British market, producing severe depressions and the abandonment of 
fields (Craven, 1926). Reaccumulation of soil nutrients probably was slow. 
Before 1800 no fertilization or renewal of the soil was attempted. 
The monopoly of arable land for tobacco deprived livestock of corn and 
pasturage. Cattle browsed the forests and probably grazed the salt 
marshes. There is no available record of the marshes having been culti- 
vated, mowed, or reclaimed. 
Between 1800 and 1850 the fertilization of fields with manure, marl, 
and gypsum developed and slowly became standard practice. Soil erosion 
was checked. Large tobacco plantations gave way to small farms where 
more efficient use of fertilizer was possible and crops were diversified. 
General prosperity continued until the Civil War (Craven, 1926). A 
postwar depression crippled agriculture until 1880, after which grain 
and truck farming slowly recovered. 
Java Farm served as a dairy from 1915 until its abandonment in 
1945. Although the forest there was not lumbered during this period, 
fallen logs were removed every spring. Cultivated fields were rotated 
between corn and barley, but from 1937 to 1945 alfalfa was largely 
substituted for corn. The present meadow north of the headquarters 
