MARYLAND GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 307 



The wood of the Tulip-tree (called White Poplar) is the principal 

 pulp material used by the mill. No attempt is being made to grow 

 wood for this industry. The present treatment of the Tulip-tree in 

 Cecil county will decrease rather than increase the future supply. 

 The trees are cut when, they have reached a diameter of 6 or 8 

 inches (Plate XXVIII, Fig. 2). The cutting usually takes place in 

 the spring or early summer, when the bark is easily removed. Stumps 

 cut at this season often refuse to sprout or the stumps decay so rap- 

 idly as to make the sprouts unthrifty or short-lived. Very often 

 thick stands of yo-ung Tulip-trees are cut and every tree removed. 

 When the stumps fail to sprout a second crop is lost, as no seed trees 

 have been left. 



TIES AND TELEGRAPH POLES. 



Most of the timber used for these purposes is Oak or Chestnut. 

 Telegraph poles are made from Chestnut, while both Chestnut and 

 Oak are used for railroad ties. The White Oaks are preferred by 

 the tie-makers, but the Red and Black Oaks are often used. There 

 is always a good market for ties and poles in the county and fair 

 prices are paid. Farmers owning stands of younk Oak and Chest- 

 nut often sell them to contractors. A given price per tie or pole is 

 paid or the stand is sold as a whole and the contractors cut what they 

 can from it. This method of disposing of the timber is seldom satis- 

 factory to the farmers, because they are not well-informed as to 

 what a given tract will yield, or what the materials are worth. They 

 are thus the prey of unscrupulous contractors. 



FENCING. 



Farmers have for some time been troubled by the gradual disap- 

 pearance of fencing material. The use of hedges and wire has les- 

 sened the demand for Chestnut, the principal material for rails. This 

 material is still plentiful, owing to the rapid growth of the Chestnut 

 from sprouts, and the lessened demand. For posts the farmers pre- 

 fer the White Oaks and Locust. The scarcity of these materials 

 often forces them to use Chestnut. The county's supply of Locust 



