.905 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



573 



iere of very slight importance. It is 

 stimated that about 25 per cent of the 

 egion is woodland, or some 700,000 

 .cres. 



There are no large timber tracts in 

 his region, and the forest area is al- 

 nost exclusively made up of farmer's 

 voodlots or small tracts, for the most 

 >art under 100 acres in area. The for- 



pared with the heavily culled and 

 burned over forests of the Appalachi- 

 an Region. As the forest areas are 

 usually small and much broken up by 

 fields, pastures, and roads, extensive 

 forest fires do not occur. However, 

 all the woodlots now produce much 

 less timber than they are capable of 

 producing if properly managed. The 



Photo by U. S. Forest Service. 



Loblolly Pine Poles; Worcester County, Maryland. 



est is second-growth hardwoods, with 

 oak, chestnut, hickory, tulip poplar, 

 and maple the prevailing trees. It is 

 mostly of sprout origin, under one 

 hundred years in age. There is also 

 some old field growth scrub pine in 

 this region. These wood-lot forests 

 are in fairly good condition, as corn- 



forest is usually understocked, due to 

 frequent random culling out of tim- 

 ber as needed, instead of systematic 

 cutting. 



3. The Coastal /'lain. About one- 

 half of the area of Maryland is com- 

 prised in this physiographic division. 

 The elevation of" this half of Man 



