OF MARYLAND. 33 



fifty to one hundred feet high, exposed at first to the south-east 

 and then forming an ahnost uninterrupted mural escarpment 

 thirty miles in length, disposed in a curve of great radius 

 to the north east, constituting the bay side of Calvert county, 

 from which the country inclines to the south-west towards 

 the Patuxent. In this direction the country is hilly, pos- 

 sesses a kind soil, is easily improved, and affords good tobacco 

 and oat lands, whilst the stiffer portions yield tolerable wheat 

 crops. This good soil rarely extends, however, beyond one 

 mile from the bay side, after which it becomes very sandy and 

 sour, throwing up a thick growth of pine. On the richer 

 bottoms, there is an abundant growth of oaks, hickory, to- 

 gether with the white and yellow ash. At the extremity of 

 the peninsula, the soil is a stiff clay, especially on the bay 

 side, and in its present condition is valuable for little more than 

 its timber, which is principally pine. On the Patuxent side, 

 however, there are levels extending from the highlands, pos- 

 sessed of a clayey soil susceptible of the highest degree of 

 improvement. In the central portions, the country is hilly, 

 with mostly a light sandy soil, though occasionally clayey, 

 generally well adapted to the growth of tobacco, oats and rye, 

 and when wooded the prevailing trees are oaks, chestnuts 

 {^Castanea vesca,) pines, and some magnificent specimens of 

 the American poplar. The soil in this, as well as nearly all 

 the tide- water country, produces the red and white beet (Beta 

 vulgaris et cicla) abundantly and of remarkable sweetness. 

 The same characters of soil and configuration of country 

 belong to the lowest portions of Anne Arundel county, with 

 this exception, that the highlands do not reach the bay, but 

 terminate abruptly in an extensive tract of low, level, clay 

 lands, denominated, probably by contradistinction, the swamp. 

 What in Anne Arundel county is locally styled the West 

 river district, offers a considerable body of excellent tobacco 

 and corn lands, that have been greatly improved by the use of 

 clover and plaster, and in their present condition form some 

 of the most valuable plantations in the state. The soil varies 

 from a sandy to a clayey-loam, in some places very ferrugi- 

 nous, it likewise produces abundant crops of oats, and with 

 the addition of lime woidd yield plentiful returns of wheat. 

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