NOTES ON THE FORESTS OF HAR- 

 FORD COUNTY, MARYLAND 



BY 



TREADWELL CLEVELAND, JR. 



U. S. Forest Service. 



T^HE soil and topography of Harford 

 * County are generally favorable 

 to forest growth. As a whole the 

 county is well forested; considerably 

 over half its total area is clothed with 

 forests of which a good proportion will 

 supply mechantable timber. More 

 than common economy has been 

 shown in clearing. One rarely sees 

 non-agricultural land, steep slopes, or 

 hilltops denuded. On the contrary, it 

 is striking that most of the farms are 

 well supplied with woodlots, especial- 

 ly where rough or steep land would 

 make agriculture only a temporary or 

 partial success. Virgin timber, of 

 course, is not to be found in important 

 quantity, but the second growth, espe- 

 cially the coppice chestnut and oak, is 

 chiefly vigorous and sufficient in quan- 

 tity to supply demands for home con- 

 sumption almost indefinitely. In the 

 southern lowlands bordering the Ches- 

 apeake the heaviest stands of large 

 timber are found. These have only 

 recently been severely cut. Five or six 

 years ago cutting began to take some 

 of the best of this timber, largely for 

 use outside the county. At the present 

 time one of the best stands in Gun- 

 powder Neck is being removed by a 

 manufacturer in Kent County, who 

 veneers red gum for fruit baskets. 



The soil varies from a sandy loam 

 and sandy clay toward the south along 

 the Chesapeake to a loam in the inte- 

 rior of the county about Belair and a 

 much rougher, stonier loam in the 

 nothern part toward the Pennsylvania 

 boundary. Coupled with the rise in 

 elevation from the Chesapeake inland 

 this change in the character of the soil 

 controls the distribution of botanical 

 species. On the level southern low- 



lands, for instance, the abundance of 

 red gum in all stages of growth and 

 particularly its spreading and vigorous 

 reproduction are characteristic. With 

 the red gum occur yellow poplar, white 

 oak, red oak, Spanish oak, willow oak, 

 and ash. Locust, an abundant tree 

 throughout the county, and juniper 

 are also found here growing to large 

 dimensions. Several exceptionally 

 large groups of juniper were noted. 

 On leaving the shore and gaining a 

 higher elevation and a different soil 

 the frequency of red gum diminishes, 

 while swamp, Spanish and willow oak 

 practically disappear, scrub oak, chest- 

 nut oak, and chestnut increase in abun- 

 dance and size, and sassafras also is 

 found in larger quantity. The char- 

 acteristic forest of this upland section 

 of the county is chestnut and chestnut 

 oak coppice. Another change from the 

 snore line to the hills is the occurrence 

 on the higher elevations of several spe- 

 cies of natural and planted conifers. 

 White pine, pitch pine, scrub pine and 

 short-leaf pine were found. On the 

 farms planted Norway spruce and 

 silver fir and European larch had at- 

 tained good size. 



The abundance of locust merits spe- 

 cial consideration in the county. Wher- 

 ever good light reaches seedlings or 

 saplings, as for example along fields 

 and on the borders of the woodl'ot or 

 forest glade, locusts are found in good 

 numbers. Especially along roadside 

 fences locust have secured a footing, 

 apparently by the well-known means 

 of the wind blowing winter-shed seeds 

 over the fields and lodging them in 

 , drifts or against such obstacles as 

 fences or underbrush. A good deal of 

 planted locust is also found, but this, 



