FOREST CONDITIONS IN DELAWARE. 5 



tor of the Experiment Station, the State Horticulturist, and the three 

 members and Secretary of the State Board of Agriculture; which 

 Board should serve without compensation, save for actual necessary 

 expenses incurred in the performance of their official duties. 



12. A State Forest should be created on the large area of beach 

 land owned by the State, and placed under the general supervision of 

 the State Board of Forestry. There is fine opportunity here for plant- 

 ing which would be a protective measure in the fixation of sand dunes, 

 and should also prove, in the long run, a good commercial proposition. 

 This area should form the basis for additional areas being set aside as 

 State Forests. 



13. It is advised that the State buy land, if possible, for forest 

 reservation purposes at a price not to exceed $10 per acre, and in con- 

 tiguous holdings, of never less than 100 acres in extent and preferably 

 500. 



14. It is advised that a technically trained forester be appointed, 

 as an adjunct to the staff at the Experiment Station and the State Col- 

 lege, to carry out the recommendations given under section 10 ; and to 

 administer private forests and all State Forests which may be created. 



LOCATION AND AREA. 



Delaware forms the eastern half of the northern part of the penin- 

 sula lying between the Chesapeake Bay on the west, and the Delaware 

 River, Delaware Bay and the Atlantic Ocean on the east. It extends 

 about 100 miles north and south, and varies in width from 9 to 36 

 miles. It has an approximate area of 1,950 square miles of land sur- 

 face, or about 1,250,000 acres. 



The State is divided into three counties, lying end to end in a row, 

 New Castle in the north, Kent in the center, and Sussex in the south. 

 The areas, and population of the counties, according to the 1900 cen- 

 sus, are as follows : 



Area Acres. County. Population. 



277,760 New Castle 109,697 



393,600 Kent 32,762 



583,040 Sussex 42,27C 



1,254,400 Total, 184,735 



PHYSIOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY. 



Delaware lies for the most part within the physiographic division 

 known as the Atlantic Coastal Plain, which has an elevation above sea 



