MARYLAND GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 267 



criminate clearing of woodland, especially on the larger slopes, brings 

 about a more direct and rapid drainage than was permitted by the 

 original close forest cover of the county. 



WOODED EEGIONS. 



With the exception of a few treeless swampy meadows of small 

 size, the entire county was once a continuous forest. The heaviest 

 timber existed in the coves, on the low hills, and on the lower slopes 

 and benches of the mountains, where the soil is deepest and most 

 porous. The rocky upper slopes and summits appear to have borne 

 a forest of small stunted trees. 



The wooded portions of the county are now confined to the larger 

 hills and mountain ridges, with irregular extensions into the valleys. 

 Most of the streams also bear fringes of forest growth. Koughly 

 estimated, the agricultural land of this county is about thirty per 

 cent of the entire area, the remainder being mostly in forests with a 

 small per cent of brush land. The latter, however, contains forest 

 tree species of brush size, and is, therefore, to be classed strictly as 

 reforested land. 



The forests of the mountains form for the most part a continuous 

 cover down to the usually cleared valleys (Plate XXV). Only occa- 

 sional clearings and worn-out, abandoned farms are seen on the 

 mountain sides; but wherever these cleared lands have been long 

 neglected, they are already reforested, or are rapidly becoming so 

 as shown in Plate XXVIII, Fig. 1. 



CHARACTER OF THE FORESTS. 



The character of the forests, changeable throughout, varies especi- 

 ally from north to south. The prevailing growth is deciduous, but 

 this is conspicuously mingled with patches, and often large areas 

 of conifers, the latter being somewhat more abundant in the central 

 and southern parts of the county. 



Small detached hills in these regions bear a pure growth of conifers 

 as seen in the region of Pine Hill and Piney Grove, while portions 

 of surrounding slopes are covered largely with deciduous forest. In 



