SOILS OF EASTERN VIRCJINIA. 5 
Tomatoes from hothouses are marketed from just before Christmas 
throughout the winter months, and the field crop from the middle 
of June until the end of October. 
Spinach is shipped from the last days of October throughout the 
winter months and until about the middle of April. 
Kale is shipped from the 1st of November until the middle of 
April. 
Sweet potatoes are shipped as they are dug, from the latter part of 
August to the end of October and from storage throughout the 
winter and early spring months well into April. 
Aside from the hothouse and cold frame products, it is evident 
that the greater part of the shipments for the Norfolk district occur 
from the middle of April to the middle of August. Some crops are 
marketed until November, but the distinctly winter truck crops — 
spinach and kale — and such crops as are grown under hothouse con- 
ditions or may be stored constitute the bulk of the shipments from 
November 1 until well into April. 
These facts, in conjunction with the figures giving the volume of 
shipment for the dift'erent crops, indicate that the Norfolk district is 
marked by year-round activity in trucking, but that the greater 
acreage and greater volume of business arise from the production of 
early spring and summer crops. 
AGRICULTURAL POPULATION. 
The business of truck crop production is chiefly in the hands of 
the native-born population of eastern Virginia and of a few individ- 
uals who have been attracted from other parts of the United States. 
The truck farms are operated either by their owners, by hired man- 
agers, or by tenants. Practically all of the labor is performed by 
colored laborers, including men, women, and the larger children, the 
women and children being employed at the lighter tasks at certain 
seasons of the year. A part of the labor is hired for extended periods 
(by the month or year), but a considerable volume of transient labor 
is also employed during the period of harvesting and marketing the 
principal crops. 
PHYSICAL FEATURES. 
The entire Norfolk trucking district lies within the Atlantic Coastal 
Plain. It is a region of low relief, no elevations greater than 30 
feet above tide level occurring within Norfolk and Princess Anne 
Counties. Portions of Isle of Wight and Nansemond Counties 
rise to somewhat greater elevations. 
If a line be drawn along the Nansemond River southward through 
Suffolk to the North Carolina boundary, it will be found that prac- 
tically all of the territory lying to the east of this line lies at an 
