MARYLAND WEATHEE SERVICE 309 



in the walls of the barn, and in a few cases were noticed as pro- 

 viding a change of air for the stable also. In the old stone and 

 brick barns the ventilators are in the form of narrow slits running 

 through several courses of the stone work of the wall; but in the 

 brick barns a brick is left out at intervals in the wall so as to pro- 

 duce a series of openings over a space of several square feet, and 

 repeated at intervals in regular patterns. Some among these old 

 barns have stood for two or three generations, and look strong enough 

 to last as much longer with but slight repairs to ridge and sills. 



The total value of farm buildings varies greatly in the different 

 ■zones, the Midland Zone leading in this, as well as in expenditure 

 for implements and fertilizers. This is shown by the tables. 



Historical. 



settlement. 



The sections of the state included within the Coastal Zone were 

 those which were easily reached by the first settlers in the region. 

 Trading stations were established by William Claiborne at the 

 mouth of the Susquehanna River in 1627-8*, and a definite settle- 

 ment was made in 1629 on Kent Island by some of the Virginia 

 Company's colonists under the leadership of Claiborne. In 1634 

 the first settlement under the Charter rights was made at St. Mary's 

 City, near the mouth of the Potomac, and soon after (1637) the 

 first county officers were in authority indicating the local civil unit 

 in the colony. Kent Island was then incorporated as a hundred of 

 the county, and continued subordinate to St. Mary's until 1640 

 when its county character is first recognized. Thus early is there 

 present a division of the Colony into the Eastern and Western 

 shore, the names coming into use a little later. But the two settle- 

 ments were not brought under the actual authority of the Lord 

 Proprietary until 1650, when the dispute as to jurisdiction was 

 decided, and Kent Island was recognized officially as part of the 

 Maryland territory. 1 



*Maryland Geological Survey, vol. vi, part v, The Counties of Maryland, 

 p. 443, 1908. 



tFurther details of the early history of the Colony may be found in History 

 of Maryland, John Thomas Scharf, 3 vols., 1879. 



