218 THE FORESTS OF CALVERT COUNTY 



found along the streams. Among the trees of little commercial iinport- 

 ance the red gum and beech occur in the greatest numbers. 



Wood Consumption. 



Wood is cut, manufactured, and used in the county for a variety of 

 purposes. With the exception of a small amount of ship timber the 

 entire wood output is consumed locally. Fuel, fencing, lumber, shingles, 

 ship timber, piling, ties, and telegraph poles are the principal forms in 

 which the wood is used. Of these the amount used as fuel, fencing, and 

 rough timber for local consumption is greatly in excess of all other 

 material. The timber industries of the county are poorly developed, the 

 few portable mills poorly equipped and the manufactured material of 

 low grade. 



The bulk of the timber cut to furnish the above material is from four 

 kinds of wood: pine, oak, chestnut, and cypress. 



Pine is used as fuel, lumber, and piling; oak as fuel, fencing, lumber, 

 ship timber, and ties; chestnut as fencing, lumber, shingles, ties, and 

 telegraph poles; cypress as lumber and shingles. 



Materials for fuel and fencing in excess of local demand will probably 

 always be present in the county. Special materials are available in 

 small quantities only, and a very limited and constantly decreasing 

 annual cut can be made. This is due to the practice of using the best 

 material for all purposes when inferior material would do as well for 

 some of them. This practice, so common in all purely farming regions, 

 results in stands of inferior trees and species suitable only for cord- 

 wood. 



Past Treatment of Woodlands. 

 While the timbered areas of the county have increased rather than 

 decreased in the past thirty years, the kind and quality of the timber 

 produced has materially changed. Areas that once yielded good white 

 oak, chestnut, yellow poplar, hickory, walnut, cherry, ash, and cypress 

 now produce little or none of these materials. This good material has 

 disappeared and in most instances yielded no revenue to the owners. 



