SOILS OF EASTERN VIRGINIA. 
43 
THE EASTERN SHORE TRUCKING DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA. 
LOCATION. 
The two counties of Accomac and Northampton in Virginia, 
located between Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, are com- 
monly designated as the Eastern Shore of Virginia. This section 
comprises a total land area of 682 square miles or 436,480 acres. It is 
bounded on the north and northwest by Worcester and Somerset 
Counties, Md., on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, and on the west by 
Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. 
The production of truck crops, and of forage and general farm 
crops grown in conjunction with such crops, constitutes the chief 
agricultural industry of these counties. The magnitude of the 
trucking industry is shown by the statistics of truck-crop production 
for the section. The following estimate of shipments of various 
truck crops is furnished by the Eastern Shore of Virginia Produce 
Exchange. It is probable that total shipments exceed even these 
totals, since some independent marketing of produce occurs. 
Table IX. — Production of truck crops in Accomac and Northampton Counties, Va., 
1911 to 1916, inclusive.'^ 
Year. 
Irish 
potatoes. 
Sweet 
potatoes. 
Onions. 
Straw- 
berries. 
Cabbage. 
1911 
Bushels. 
2, 403, 838 
4, 598, 170 
7,649,510 
7,083,664 
7, 839, 492 
7,719,249 
Bushels. 
1,845,990 
2,874,231 
3,525,368 
2,281,623 
2,367,040 
3,736,983 
Hampers.^ 
44, 733 
89, 828 
97, 252 
65, 095 
201, 488 
69, 156 
Crates.^ 
30,616 
81, 508 
49,356 
45, 778 
58,991 
48,610 
Crates.* 
48, 109 
1912 
48, 727 
84 188 
1913 
1914 
110, 395 
1915 
88, 666 
1916 
90, 156 
1 From Soil Survey of Accomac and Northampton Counties, Va., E. H. Stevens, Field Operations, 
Bureau of Soils, 1917. 
2 Hamper = five-eighths bushels. 
3 Strawberry crate = 32 quarts. 
^ Cabbage crate = two-thu'ds barrel, or 2 bushels. Some.cabbage is also shipped in barrels. 
Assuming moderate yields per acre for each of these crops, it is 
probable that the two counties plant annually about 65,000 to 
70,000 acres to potatoes, 20,000 to 25,000 acres to sweet potatoes, 
around 1,000 acres to strawberries, and about 500 acres each to 
onions and cabbage. These estimates probably are somewhat below 
rather than above the total plantings. Small areas of beans, canta- 
loupes, and watermelons are also grown. 
The total area of improved land in farms shown for the two counties 
by the census of 1910 is 128,775 acres. The area in truck crops, as 
estimated, ranges from 87,000 to 97,000 acres, or somewhere between 
67 and 75 per cent of the total improved land. Few trucking areas 
show such a high percentage of truck-crop occupation as this, and 
few of them exceed the Eastern Shore in total area given to the 
growing of truck crops. 
