SOILS OF EASTERN VIRGINIA. SY 
The reports indicate an average yit'ld of GO to 70 })arrels per acre. 
Manure is quite generally used for this crop, with a supplementary 
application of 500 to 1,000 pounds of commercial fertilizer. The 
formula employed varies, ranging from a mixture analyzing 2-8-6 to 
the 7-6-5 formula commonly used on Irish potatoes. 
Cantaloupes. — Only six replies were received with respect to canta- 
loupes, but it is notable that all indicate a preference for a sandy or 
sandy loam soil. 
Watermelons. — Five rephes with respect to watermelons ; all express 
a preference for a sandy soil. 
Spinach. — Replies were received from 17 growers, representing a 
total of 559 acres of spinach. Seven, or 41 per cent, prefer a sandy 
loam soil; 6, or 35 per cent, prefer a loam; and 4 growers, or 24 per 
cent, prefer a heavy loam or clay. 
The yields reported range from 50 to 400 barrels per acre, with a 
mean of about 200 barrels. 
Spinach is the most extensively grown of the strictly winter truck 
crops. There is some variation in the methods of production, 
although the greater part of the acreage follows a summer forage 
crop, either volunteer hay or a crop of corn or of corn and cowpeas. 
The land is plowed, harrowed, and thrown up into narrow, flat- 
topped beds early in the fall and the spinach seeded while there is 
time for a strong growth before the colder winter weather sets in. 
Stable manure, so far as it can be obtained, is used for the crop, 
but the chief dependence is placed upon commercial fertilizers. These 
are applied at the rate of 1,000 to 2,000 pounds per acre, the most 
Xiommon application being 1,000 to 1,200 pounds. A part of the 
application is made just before seeding, but additional applications 
are made during the winter whenever warm weather permits. The 
fertilizer used for this winter crop usually contains 10 per cent of 
ammonia, derived from soluble sources, from 4 to 8 per cent of phos- 
phoric acid, and 2 to 4 per cent of potash. 
It is coming to be a common practice in the Norfolk district to 
apply from 500 to 1,000 pounds of lime in some form, at the time the 
spinach beds are prepared. 
Kale. — Kale is second only to spinach in the Norfolk district as a 
winter truck crop. Replies were received from 15 growers, represent- 
ing 177 acres of kale. Of these, 3, or 20 per cent, prefer a sandy loam 
soil; 11, or 73 per cent, express preference for a loam soil; and 1 
prefers a clay soil. 
The yields reported range from 200 to 300 barrels per acre, with 
an average of about 250 barrels. 
Kale is most commonly planted after a summer crop of volunteer 
hay or after corn. The planting is made in the early fall and the 
crop makes the greater part of its growth early in the season. The 
