THE FORESTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 511 



SOUTH ATLANTIC DIVISION. 



I 



*^ DELAWARE. 



The northern portion of the state, comprising New Castle and Kent counties, was once covered with the 

 deciduous forests of the Atlantic plain. Conifers, with the exception of the red cedar, were rare. In the sandy- 

 soil of the southern part of the state various pitch pines flourished, forming fully one-half of the forest growth. 

 These pine forests were long ago consumed and are now replaced by a second growth, generally composed of the species 

 which originally occupied the ground ; and throughout the state the best hard-wood timber has been culled from 

 the forest. Large quantities of wheel and cooperage stock were formerly manufactured in the northern counties; 

 but of late j-ears these and other industries using .the products of the forest have, for want of material, generally 

 decreased in importance. The manufacturers report a general scarcity of timber. 



During the census year 3,305 acres of woodland were reported destroyed by fire, with a loss of $15,675. Of 

 such fires six were set by locomotives, six by the careless burners of brush upon farms, and two through malice. 



Kent county. About one-quarter of this county is reported covered with forest. A few small mills saw oak 

 from the immediate neighborhood into shipstuff and car lumber, shipping to Wilmington, Philadelphia, and even 

 to Ifew York. 



New Castle county. About one-quarter of this county is reported covered with woodland, mostly of second 

 growth and attached to farms. The large establishments for the manufacture of gunpowder, located in th& 

 neighborhood of Wilmington, consume large amounts of willow wood, generally grown for the purpose upon farms 

 in their immediate vicinity. 



Sussex county. One-third to one-half of this county is reported covered with woodland. Numerous small 

 mills, obtaining their supply of logs from the immediate neighborhood, saw oak for shipstuff. 



MARYLAND. 



The northwestern portion of the state, crossed by the ridges of the Appalachian system, was once covered with 

 the forests of white pine, hemlock, birch, and maple peculiar to this mountain region. The central portion of the- 

 state, extending from the mountains to the shores of Chesapeake bay, was covered with oaks, hickories, gums, and 

 other deciduous trees in great variety, the eastern peninsula largely with different species of pitch pine, occupying 

 sandy plains, or mixed with deciduous trees. 



In the mountain region considerable bodies of the original forest remain upon the highest and most 

 inaccessible slopes ; in the remainder of the state this, where the land has not been permanently cleared for 

 agriculture, is now largely replaced by a second growth, or the best timber at least has been everywhere culled. 



A large amount of cooperage stock was formerly manufactured in this state. This industry has, however, 

 greatly suffered from the deterioration and exhaustion of the local supply of timber; manufacturers report the 

 best stock nearly exhausted and the substitution for oak, formerly exclusively used, of elm and other inferior 

 woods now brought from beyond the limits of the state. 



During the census year 41,070 acres of woodland were reported destroyed by forest fires, with a loss of $37,425. 

 These fires were traced to the carelessness of hunters, to locomotives, and largely to the escape from farms to the 

 forest of fires set in clearing land. The principal lumber manufacturing establishments using Maryland logs are 

 situated iu Garrett county ; these saw white i)ine, hemlock, and oak to supply a limited local demand and ship to 

 Baltimore, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Wheeling; considerable oak timber is sent to Europe from this county. 

 During the year 1879 the northern counties produced 170,070 pounds of maple sugar. 



DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 



Tlie original forest has disappeared from the District of Columbia and has been replaced by a second and 

 third growth of oaks, scrub pines, and other trees. The area occupied with woods is probably slowly increasing. 

 A single saw-mill, situated in the city of Washington, saws logs grown beyond the limits of the District. 



VIRGINIA. 



The forests of Virginia, like those of the Carolinas and Georgia, fall naturally into three divisions, dependent 

 upon the elevation and soil of the different parts of the state. The mountains and ridges of its western border are 



