298 THE FORESTS OF CECIL COUNTY 



In the southern part of the county wide tidal rivers (Plate XXIII, 

 Fig. 1) receive the water from the creeks and form waterways for 

 the Bay shipping. The principal rivers of the county are, Northeast, 

 Elk, Bohemia, and Sassafras. Their greatest width is two miles, and 

 all have ship channels. The Susquehanna river, receiving the drain- 

 age of the western portion of the county, enters the Chesapeake at 

 Perryville. 



WOODLANDS AND FORESTS. 



The total area of Cecil county is 375 square miles, or 240,000 

 acres. The area of the included water (ponds, rivers, etc.) is 10,300 

 acres, and of the marsh, 3600 acres. This leaves for the farm-lands 

 and forest 226,100 acres. The wooded portion of the county is 15 

 per cent of this, or 35,000 acres. 



FOREST TYPES. 



The wooded areas comprise two types of forest. The first type 

 (Plate XXYI) Barrens Timber is found on the poor gravel soils 

 of Elk Neck, and on similar soils of the region north and east. It is 

 a young hardwood growth, with areas on which Scrub Pine occurs. 

 The second type (Plate XXVII) Shore Timber includes the thin 

 fringe of trees found along the streams, rivers and bay-shore. The 

 growth is mainly hardwood, of both mature and young trees. 



BARRENS TIMBER. 



This type of forest has an area, of 20,000 acres, distributed as 

 shown on the map (Plate XXV), and covers the region locally 

 known as " Barrens." The term " Barrens " is applied to this re- 

 gion because of the poor soil found there and the fact that large 

 areas are constantly covered with brush (Plate XXVI, Fig. 2). 

 When fire kills this brush, the burned areas are indeed barren. 

 The timber of the Barrens is not virgin, but a sprout growth of 

 Chestnut and Oak. In age it varies from one to forty years. The 

 periodical removal, by the charcoal-burner, of all sound material one 

 inch and over in diameter has resulted in rather even-aged stands of 



