NORFOLK TRUCKING 



17 



leg and early blight are quite prevalent and Colorado potato 

 bugs and flea beetles are always present to a great extent, 

 hence the grower must be provided with means of combating 

 these insects. Some are now using combined insecticides and 

 fungicides. 



The crop is always harvested and sold as ''new potatoes" 

 and not as matured potatoes. The fact of harvesting and 

 marketing at this time has precluded the use of power potato 

 diggers so common in the North and West, because the potato 

 diggers bruise and skin the young potatoes to such an extent 

 that they reach the markets in bad condition. The southern 

 grower uses the plow in turning the potatoes out of the 

 ground, a somewhat more laborious task than his northern 

 neighbor encounters in harvesting his crop ; but the price per 

 barrel for picking, sorting and packing the potatoes is about 

 the same as is paid in New York and Maine for picking the 

 potatoes behind the modern potato diggers. 



Beans. 



Snap beans are grown either as an early spring or late 

 fall crop. For the early spring crop, the Black Valentine, 

 Curries Rustproof and Golden Wax are the leading varieties. 

 Black Valentines are usually planted the last of March or the 

 first of April, but the wax varieties are not planted until two 

 or three weeks later. The beans from this planting are har- 

 vested for the early markets. The fall crop is planted the 

 last of August or the first of September and the crop harvest- 

 ed in October. Beans are a short season crop with the Vir- 

 ginia truckers, consequently they are comparatively inexpen- 

 sive to grow. Nor are the returns large per acre, but when 

 the expense for growing the crop is taken into consideration, 

 it usually proves quite profitable. 



Intensive Trucking. 



A small group of truck farmers are now practicing inten- 

 sive methods, in which cold frames and hotbeds play an im- 

 portant part. These farmers limit their efforts to a compara- 

 tively small acreage, but the intensity, of the methods follow- 

 ed frequently gives them as large returns as their neighbors 

 derive from several times the area. 



