MARYLAND WEATHEK SERVICE 153 



selves. The problem as presented in Southern Maryland is, given 

 an estate consisting of abandoned fields, what will be the history of 

 such a tract if it is not interfered with ? With this problem in 

 view we may proceed to a description of the various types. 



Pine Association. — The pines which are common in this district 

 are two in number, the Scrub Pine (Pinus virginiana) and the 

 Loblolly Pine ( Pinus taeda). Kegarding other species, the reports of 

 the Soil Survey speak of "'Pitch Pine" as occurring in St. Mary's 

 County. This name is ordinarily applied to Pinus rigida, but in 

 the reports mentioned, manifestly refers to Pinus virginiana. Mell* 

 includes Pinus rigida in his catalogue of the trees occurring in St. 

 Mary's County, although Curran f does not mention it as occurring 

 in Calvert County, where the conditions ought to be quite as favor- 

 able for this species. Curran (I.e.) reports the occurrence of Pinus 

 echinata in Calvert County to the extent of less than 5% in Scrub 

 Pine associations. Strangely enough Mell does not include this 

 species in his list of the trees of St. Mary's County although on 

 account of the southerly range of the species one would expect to 

 find it on the peninsula terminated by Point Lookout as well as in 

 Calvert County. In St. Mary's County the writer was informed 

 of the occurrence of a "Yellow Pine," but no person pointed out 

 any examples to the writer, who also was unable to discover any. 

 It was thought that in the northern part of the district, toward 

 Havre de Grace, additional species might be found, but this area 

 proved to have very few pines, and these of the two species common 

 throughout the district. The Scrub Pine, commonly called 

 "spruce pine" in the region, doubtless on account of the shortness 

 of its leaves, is the most abundant conifer of the Western Shore 

 District. It is easily distinguished by the shortness of its leaves 

 and by their grouping in fascicles of two. As is true of pines in 

 general, it has two forms, dependent upon whether the trees grow 

 isolated or in close association. The two types are shown in Plates 

 X and XL The former shows the usual appearance of the tree as 



*Mell, C. D. The Forests of St. Mary's County. Maryland Geological 

 Survey, St. Mary's County, 1907. 



tCurran, H. M. The Forests of Calvert County. Maryland Geological Sur 

 vey, Calvert County, 1907. 



