16 BULLETIN No. 82. 



for the common grades, are uniformly good, and the demand is greater 

 than the supply. Logs and lumber are commencing to be shipped 

 from Virginia and North Carolina to supply box factories in Dela- 

 ware. 



The freight rates on cordwood from Sussex County to Philadel- 

 phia range from $1 to $1.50 a ton, which is equivalent to $1.50 to $2.50 

 a cord for pine, and from $2 to $3.50 a cord for hardwoods. Pine 

 brings $5 and oak $6 a cord wholesale in Philadelphia, and so it will 

 usually be more profitable to sell cordwood locally at $4 than to ship 

 to the city. Freight rates from Kent and New Castle counties to Phila- 

 delphia are lower than from Sussex, and cordwood and the lower 

 grades of lumber can more often be profitably shipped to city markets. 



THE FORESTS OF DELAWARE. 



Forest Regions. 



There are three general forest regions distinguishable in Dela- 

 ware: (1) The Piedmont Plateau hardwood region, the outlines of 

 which are identical with that portion of the State indicated on the map 

 as belonging to the Archean geologic formation. About 15 per cent of 

 the area of this region is wooded, or some 11,000 acres. (2) The 

 Coastal Plain hardwood region extends south from the Piedmont 

 region to Felton, in the lower part of Kent County. About 20 per cent 

 of the area of this region is wooded, or some 95,000 acres. (3) The 

 Coastal Plain mixed pine and hardwood region comprises the whole of 

 Sussex and the southern third of Kent County. About 35 per cent of 

 the area of this region is wooded, or some 245,000 acres. 



In the Piedmont region the forests consist almost entirely of wood- 

 lots less than 50 acres in extent, situated on steep slopes and along 

 water courses, in places difficult to cultivate. There are two general 

 types of forest in this region: one occurs along streams and in ravines 

 where the soil is uniformly moist, well drained and fertile; the other 

 occurs on slopes, more or less exposed, and with drier and less fertile 

 soil. The first has tulip poplar as the characteristic tree, and asso- 

 ciated with it are chestnut, white, pin and red oaks, red maple, white 

 ash, walnut, sweet and black gums, beech, basswood, and sycamore. 

 Tree growth in this type is extremely rapid and vigorous. The char- 

 acteristic tree of the slope type is chestnut with white, red and black 

 oaks, tulip poplar, hickory, and maple as the most common associates. 

 On steep and rocky slopes in the northern part of the region a chestnut 

 oak type sometimes occurs, with rock, or chestnut, oak as the prevailing 



