18 BULLETIN No. 82. 



over 40,000 acres of woodland in the county, the largest bodies of which 

 are on Chestnut and Iron Hills, and in the southwestern corner of the 

 county below the railroad branch which runs from Townsend, Dela- 

 ware, to Massey, Maryland. There is also a large area of woodland be- 

 tween Kirkwood and Glasgow around the sources of Belltown Run. 

 Each of the above areas forms several hundred acres of continuous for- 

 est, but outside of them there are no wooded tracts in the county over 

 100 acres in size, and nearly all the woodlots are less than 20 acres. 



The forests of New Castle County are almost exclusively of hard- 

 woods, with only a very slight mixture of spruce pine in the southeast- 

 ern part, and with scattering red cedar throughout the county. 



In the Piedmont region the wooded areas are located chiefly on 

 steep hillsides and slopes of streams, which cannot be conveniently cul- 

 tivated. The prevailing species are chestnut, red and white oak, tulip 

 poplar, and hickory. In passing from the Piedmont region to the 

 Coastal Plain there is a decrease in the occurrence of chestnut, tulip 

 poplar, and hickory, and an increasing amount of sweet gum and soft 

 maple. The steeper and better drained slopes of the Piedmont region 

 are adapted to poplar and chestnut, while the more level Coastal Plain 

 is highly suited to gum and maple. 



Kent County 



Kent County is about 25 per cent wooded, that is, there are nearly 

 100,000 acres of woodland. The portion east of the main line of the 

 Pennsylvania Railroad and north of Murderkill Creek, comprising 

 slightly over one-third the area of the county, is not more than 15 per 

 cent forested. The amount of woodland increases westward from the 

 railroad towards the Maryland line. Mispillion Hundred, in the south- 

 western corner of Kent, is the most heavily timbered portion of the 

 county, and is about 40 per cent wooded. In the northern half of the 

 county the forest is almost exclusively of hardwoods, but in the south- 

 ern half pine forms an important part of the forest. Throughout the 

 county, however, hardwoods are decidedly more important than pine, 

 although the latter is rapidly increasing in importance and amount in 

 the lower part of the county. 



Sussex County 



This county has upwards of 35 per cent of its area wooded, that is, 

 there are considerably over 200,000 acres of woodland. There are many 

 continuous bodies of woodland over 100 acres in extent, the largest of 

 which occur in Nanticoke, Georgetown, Dagsborough, and Gumborough 



