MARYLAND WEATHER SERVICE 269 



the Sideling Creek Valley, so here the vegetation of the roadside is 

 largely of the forest plants, rather than of the farm weeds, there 

 being but little of the turf noted in the Hagerstown Valley. The 

 soil is too easily washed to develop a turf along the roads, and even 

 in the fields it is not so easily produced as in the limestone soil of 

 the eastern section. The general trend of the drainage in the areas 

 discussed has been southward, with the side valleys of the main 

 streams cutting into the long ridges. This characteristic of the 

 drainage continues to the limit of the Midland Zone, at Wills Moun- 

 tain. 



Cumberland. — In the neighborhood of Cumberland the influence 

 of the demand on the part of the coal mines for timber and small 

 props is seen in the more numerous stripped hills and exposed slopes 

 from which the forest cover has been removed. The great Georges 

 Creek area of coal lies only a few miles to the west, and this locality 

 has long been the distributing point for the coal and for the mining 

 supplies. There is not a great deal of good agricultural land in the 

 vicinity, on account of the large amount of sandstone present over 

 much of the area, while elsewhere the shale soil of the Romney 

 formation furnishes almost equally poor farm land. 



Wills Mountain. — The great point of interest lies just west of 

 the city, in the high ridge of Wills Mountain which is cut through 

 by Wills Creek, both banks of the Creek being used as roadways 

 to reach the country beyond. The Mountain is cleared for much 

 of the distance from base to top on the eastern face, but as the 

 west side is much steeper, and cannot be tilled, it remains in scat- 

 tered forest, of such hardy trees as Bobinia pseud-acacia, Quercus 

 prinus, Quercus velutina, Pinus virginiana, Kalmia latifolia, Amel- 

 anchier canadensis, Pinus pungens and Quercus rubra. 



In the way of herbaceous vegetation in the immediate vicinity of 

 the Mountain, and the Creek banks, there are the following species, 

 at times in some luxuriance as some small spring may bring the 

 needed water into easy reach : 



Bicuculla eximia 

 Mertensia virginica 

 Viola pedata 

 Sanguinaria canadensis 



