18 BULLETIX 1005, U. S. DEPARTMEXT OF AGRICULTURE. 
This rapid succession of crops, the interplaiitiiig of such crops as 
peas and beans with strawberries and cucumbers, and the year- 
round utilization of the land are characteristic features of the Church- 
land area and of the general district. 
The completion of land drainage through the use of tile is probably 
more general in the immediate vicinity of Churchland than in other 
parts of the Norfolk district, but is not confined to that locahty. 
Another feature of the Churchland area is the common use of 
natural forest areas or of planted windbreaks to protect the winter 
and early spring crops from cold winds. The tilled areas are very 
commonly protected in this manner and in some cases individual 
fields of small area are surrounded by hedges. Such a windbreak 
is shown in Plate VII, figure 2. 
In this area, in which the trucking industry of the district had its 
inception, every device for promoting the early and uninterrupted 
growth of crops is employed. Not only are the well-drained, some- 
what sandy soils utilized as in other districts, but soils not natiu-ally 
so well suited to trucking have been improved by drainage until they 
are available for the growing of the more important crops, such as 
cabbage and potatoes, and the climatic conditions above the soil 
have been improved by windbreaks. 
The Dia31oxd Springs Area. 
During the fall of 1915 and the spring of 1916, a soil and crop map 
of an area of approximately 1,909 acres was made in the vicinity of 
Diamond Springs, Va. The territory included in this survey lies 
along the Cape Henry Division of the Norfolk Southern Railroad, 
in the northwestern part of Princess Anne County and about 7^ miles 
northeast of Norfolk. The southern boundary of the area is an 
arbitrary line, but the greater part of the eastern, northern, and 
northwestern boundaries is formed by the waters of Lakes Lawson 
and -Smith and by Little Creek. 
The surface of the area mapped falls into two rather chstinct 
topographic divisions. The northern two-fifths of the area consists 
of a low plain whose maximum elevation of about 15 feet above 
tide level is attained at its southern boundary. It slopes very gently 
to the north, descending rather sharply to the water boundaries of 
the area. It consists of a series of low peninsulas, separated by 
narrow arms of the artificial bodies of water which surroimd the area 
on this side. The general surface is nearly level, although low ridges 
not more than 5 feet higher than the general surface may be detected. 
The surface of the plaiu ranges from about 8 feet to 15 feet above 
tide-water level. There are few stream channels within this plaiu 
except those which indent its mai^giu. 
