iiOILS OF EASTERN VTR(;iNIA. 9 
The Churchland Area. 
A detailed soil and crop map was made in the vicinity of Church- 
land in the summer of 1916. It covers approximately 1,180 acres of 
intensively tilled land. The area included lies along the Western 
Branch of Elizabeth River. It is bounded on the eastern, southern, 
and western borders by tidewater, while its northern boundary is an 
arbitrary line. The surface of the upland is nearly level, rising 
scarcely more than 15 feet above tide level at its greatest elevation. 
Along the tidewater margins there is usually a steep slope from the 
general surface down to water level. This narrow border presents 
practically the only steeply sloping land within the area. Slight 
depressions and small streamways exist within the upland, but the 
greater part of the surface is so nearly level that intensive cultivation 
is carried on over practically every acre. 
This area includes the territory within which truck farming has 
been carried on from the beginning of specialized farming in the Nor- 
folk district and is one of the most intensively cultivated areas in the 
district. 
The detailed soil and crop map of the Churchland area was made 
on the scale of 6 inches to the mile, or 1 inch to 880 f eet.^ Upon this 
map the different soils are plotted in great detail and the boundaries 
of each field or crop area are shown. From this map it is possible 
to ascertain the actual crop occupation of each soil type at the time 
of the survey, to measure the total areas of each type occupied by 
the different crops, and to compute the relative importance of the 
different soils for the growing of each crop. 
In order that both spring and fall conditions might be shown in 
this region of year-round farming, crop maps were made in June and 
late in Ausfust. 
It was found that even within this small area there are seven dis- 
tinct soil types or conditions, exclusive of tide marsh, the area of 
which is neghgible, and of the sloping areas along the shores, which 
are not used for any agricultural purpose. 
Sassafras fine sandy loam. — The surface soil of the Sassafras fine 
sandy loam, to a depth of 9 inches, is a friable, brown loamy fine 
sand. This is underlain to a depth of about 18 inches by a yellow, 
loamy fine sand, which grades downward into a rather stiff, reddish- 
brown loam. 
The surface of this type is nearly level or only slightly sloping. 
The type lies adjacent to tidewater and is usually bounded on the 
outer margins by rather steep slopes. Toward the interior it grades 
1 For publication the several maps have been reduced to a uniform scale of 1 inch to 1,000 feet. 
Those maps will be found at the end of this bulletin. 
