326 THE FORESTS OF GARRETT COUNTY 



which are crowding others may be removed, giving the remaining 

 trees a better chance to grow. If there is a sale for cord wood , mine 

 props, or small material, the crooked, decayed, least desirable species, 

 or injured trees may be removed, leaving the thrifty, straight, and 

 more merchantable kinds for future cuttings. By following this 

 method forests that are now full of broken, decayed, and stunted 

 trees and undesirable species may later become woods of only steadily 

 growing merchantable trees, with tall, clean stems. This improve- 

 ment can be made with but little cost to the owner, and in many 

 cases the thinnings will yield a revenue. If in the farmer's lifetime 

 the remaining crop does not mature, he still has had abundant mater- 

 ial for home use and for sale year by year, and the forest, worth 

 perhaps $400 when he began to care for it, will when he dies have 

 200 to 400 trees per acre that will cut two ties per tree, and the crop 

 at ten cents per tie will be worth $40 to $80 per acre. Instead of 

 leaving to his children $400 worth of inferior woodland, he leaves 

 them $4000 to $6000 of merchantable tie timber, which they may 

 sell or further improve by caring for the trees until they reach larger 

 timber sizes. In this calculation taxes may be disregarded, as the 

 farmer seldom sells his wood land, but pays the taxes year after year 

 on land producing poor timber crops, or none at all. 



Fire Damage. 



If a farmer decides to systematically improve his woodlands, con- 

 sidering them as an interest bearing investment, he should protect 

 his forest crop. The greatest danger to which Garrett county forests 

 are subjected is fire. The damage due to fire is never fully realized 

 by the majority of forest owners, unless mature timber is killed out- 

 right. But every light surface fire running through the woods injures 

 the growing crop. The fallen leaves are essential to the best develop- 

 ment of the trees, for by their decomposition they return food mater- 

 ial to the soil, form soil over rocky places, and prevent the evapora- 

 tion of soil moisture by acting as a close covering or mulch in periods 

 of little rain. Surface fires burn the leaves and in very dry seasons 

 the partially decomposed leaves and twigs also that constitute the 



