2 BULLETIX 1005, V. S. DEPAETMEXT OF AGRICULTURE. 
THE NORFOLK TRUCKING DISTRICT. 
LOCATION. 
The Xorfolk trucking district is located chiefly within the northern 
parts of Isle of Wight, Nansemond, Norfolk, and Princess Anne 
Counties, Va. Even within these counties the production of truck 
crops is distinctly localized to positions near tidewater, extending 
from the Lynnhaven River on the east to the Nansemond River on 
the west. By far the greater part of the land used for the growing 
of truck crops and strawberries lies north of a line drawn from Prin- 
cess Anne courthouse to Suffolk, Va., and east of a line dra\NTi thence 
northward to the James River, near Smithfield. Small areas 
producing truck crops are also found in James City, York, Warwick, 
and Elizabeth City Counties, but these lie across the James River and 
outside the limits of the Norfolk district in its more restricted sense. 
Only a small proportion of the total land area of the counties of 
eastern Virginia lying south of the James River and Chesapeake Bay 
is given to truck crop production. It is impossible to state with 
exactness the actual acreage devoted to this form of agriculture, as 
the area varies from year to year and certain duplications in cropping 
prevent the making of a precise estimate of the land thus employed. 
The climatic conditions in the vicinity of Norfolk permit the gro^^ing 
of a succession of crops during the year, and the same land is fre- 
quently used for the growing of two or more crops within the same 
year. In consequence the total acreage of vegetables will undoubt- 
edly exceed by many acres the total area devoted to truck crop pro- 
duction. The winter areas of spinach and kale are duplications of 
acreages used for the growing of spring truck crops. Similarly, certain 
crops are extensively interplanted, as in the case of beans and peas 
with strawberries, peas with cucumbers, potatoes with newly set beds 
of strawberries, and other less frequent combinations. (See PI. I, 
figs. 1 and 2.) 
It is probable that some 5,000 acres of duplication should thus be 
allowed for and that the total land area used for truck crop produc- 
tion in the Norfolk district annually during recent years is about 
50,000 acres. 
It is evident, therefore, that only a small part of the area included 
in the district is actually used for truck crop production. The reasons 
for this limitation are local conditions of soil texture, drainage, trans- 
portation facilities, and minor climatic variations. 
