Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain

William J. Hanna and S. S. Obenshain.

The Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain embraces parts of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina. It begins as a narrow strip at Long Island and gradually widens to nearly 200 miles in North Carolina.

Some of the land has been farmed for more than 200 years. Almost all of the present county boundary lines were established before 1750.

The region has 6 million inhabitants, and in large cities near it are another 14 million persons.

Agriculture is secondary to industry in the northern part. A more serious reduction in agricultural areas was made by residential construction than by industry during the early 1950's.

Because of the high population density and location along the Atlantic coast, much of the land is utilized as recreational areas, which mostly are along the sandy coastal beaches and have little agricultural value, although some farmland is being converted to parks and golf courses.

The average January temperature varies between 48 F. in southern North Carolina and 30 on Long Island in New York. The average July temperature has a somewhat narrower range from 80 in North Carolina to 72 in New York.

The average number of days without killing frost is about 180 on Long Island and in central New Jersey. There are 290 frost-free days on the outer banks of North Carolina at Cape Hatteras. The average date of the first killing frost is October 20 in parts of New Jersey, northern Delaware, and Mary, land, and November 30 along the southeastern coast of North Carolina. The average dates of the last killing frost in spring are March 5 in North Carolina, and April 25 in central New Jersey and on Long Island.

The highest annual precipitation in the region is about 56 inches in the vicinity of Beaufort, N. C. The lowest is about 36 inches in Calvert and St. Mary's Counties in southern Maryland. April to September precipitation ranges from 20 inches in southern New Jersey and southeastern Maryland to 34 inches near Beaufort. Much of the summer rain comes in afternoon thunderstorms.

The region lies in the path of occasional hurricanes, which move up the coast from the Caribbean area in the autumn. The hurricanes usually are accompanied by heavy rain and strong winds, which may be destructive.

Because of the proximity to the ocean and numerous bays, the relative humidity is high in many coastal sections.

The topography is level to hilly. The hills are mostly in the inner Coastal Plain near the streams. The elevation ranges from sea level along the many tidal streams and bays to a little more than 300 feet in southern Maryland.

The higher elevations along the inland boundary have well-developed drainageways. North of the James River and the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, the region is a series of relatively narrow peninsulas lying between rather deeply cut stream beds. Drainage has been established to both sides of the peninsulas.

Where the Coastal Plain is wider in New Jersey, southern Virginia, and North Carolina, the seaward portions on the lower terraces and the upland flats on the intermediate terraces do not have well-defined drainageways and therefore have extensive swampy areas, notably the Dismal Swamp along the Virginia-North Carolina border and the Mattamuskeet area in North Carolina. Scattered swampy upland flats, or "pocosins," also exist in Virginia, the Carolina Bays in North Carolina, and swamps in the New Jersey "Pine Barrens." Large areas of tidal marsh and coastal beach occur along the coastline of the bays and the sea, particularly in New Jersey, Virginia, and North Carolina.

Nearness to cities and soil type were among the factors that determined farming systems. Modern transportation and competition from distant areas reduced the importance of nearness to large cities, but much of the dairying and vegetable farming are still located around them.

Other factors that influence the farming systems and crops are labor costs, particularly near the larger cities, and Government controls, including price supports and acreage control. For example, a large acreage formerly used for tobacco, cotton, and peanuts in North Carolina and Virginia was shifted in the early 1950's to corn and soybeans.

The most common crops are corn and small grains, but many vegetables and potatoes also are grown in much of the region. In the North Carolina Coastal Plain, cash grain, tobacco, peanuts, and cotton are the characteristic types of farms. The leading crops in the Coastal Plain of Virginia are cash grain, peanuts, cotton, and vegetables. Poultry, dairy, and vegetable farms are the characteristic types in the northern part.

Vegetables to be marketed fresh have long been grown on the sandy soils of the Coastal Plain near New York, Philadelphia, Wilmington, Baltimore, and Washington. Much of the market garden areas have been lost since 1940 to urban and industrial encroachment, especially in Nassau County, N. Y.; Camden County, N. J.; Baltimore County, Md.; and Norfolk County, Va. Production of vegetables for processing is an important enterprise in most of the northern part. A large part of the acreage of well-drained soils is devoted to vegetable production, and somewhat more than half of the produce goes to processing plants. The remainder is sold on the fresh market. Vegetable crops, including potatoes, are given first priority on best soils in New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and parts of Virginia.

Poultry is the main farm enterprise in the area north of Chesapeake Bay. Chickens are grown on almost all farms of the region, but large-scale production is concentrated in two general areas Monmouth, Ocean, Atlantic, and Cumberland Counties in New Jersey, and the central part of Delaware and the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Virginia. Egg production is foremost in New Jersey.

Poultry farms are mostly on the very sandy soils. Only a small fraction of the feed is produced on the farm. Cultivated land, if any, is used for poultry ranges or for vegetable crops. In the Delaware-Maryland-Virginia peninsula, where broiler production is the chief poultry enterprise, a much larger proportion of the feed is grown in the vicinity, but even there more than half of the grains fed to poultry come from outside those States.

A smaller area is devoted to the duckling industry of Suffolk County, N. Y. Almost all the feed is shipped in.

Dairying is second only to poultry production as a farm enterprise in the Atlantic Coastal Plain north of Chesapeake Bay. Much of the dairying is concentrated on the soils that are less well drained. Such areas include Burlington and Salem Counties in New Jersey, northern Delaware, and the northern part of the Eastern Shore of Maryland.

Two major crops are white potatoes and sweetpotatoes. The value of both crops in 1949 was about the same a,, for all vegetables. White potatoes are grown throughout the region. Sweet-potatoes are grown on the sandier soils and in areas that have a growing season of 190 to 200 days.