144 THE SOILS OF ST. MAEY's COUNTY 



they TLOVi' work as free men. The majority of the workers, however, be- 

 long to a more recent generation. 



There are no large towns in St. Mary's County. Leonardtown, the 

 county-seat, is the largest, while Mechanicsville, at the terminus of 

 the railroad, does a thriving business, and Charlotte Hall is the seat of 

 a well-known school of the same name. 



The tendency of the white population is toward the enjoyment of the 

 seclusion of large estates, and frequently the manor liouse or farmhouse 

 is reached only by a long avenue leading away to a distance of nearly 

 a mile from the public highway. On the other hand, the colored popu- 

 lation segregates into little communities, where land may be obtained 

 cheaply, and little villages of frame and log dwellings are dotted over the 

 county. 



The Transportation Facilities. 



A single branch line of railway, connecting Mechanicsville with the 

 main line at Brandywine, is the only rail communication between St. 

 Mary's County and the markets and cities of the State and the country at 

 large. This lack of railroad communication is partly relieved by the 

 steamboat service on the Patuxent and Potomac rivers and on the larger 

 streams. As two lines connecting with Baltimore and Washington control 

 the water transportation, this can scarcely be said to equal the needs of 

 the county. The boats run only at long intervals and at rather irregular 

 times, and the trip to Baltimore or Washington consumes from sixteen 

 to twenty-four hours, depending upon the volume of freight carried. 



For this reason the crops produced in the county are placed at a dis- 

 advantage with relation to markets when compared with those of other 

 regions, and the variety of crops that can be raised with profit is con- 

 siderably restricted. This is particularly evident in the case of fruit 

 and truck crops and of dairy products. The truck lands of St. Mary's 

 County are excellent, so far as soil and climate are concerned, but no 

 one cares to enter into their cultivation to any extent so long as the 

 cost and uncertainties of marketing remain as great as at present. Again, 



