MARYLAND WEATHER SERVICE 331 



is of fair fertility. This may be due to the influence of the nearby 

 limestone hills which drain into the valley, and from which the soil 

 particles have been gradually washed into the lower area. 



The quality of the agricultural lands improves as the hills to 

 the west of Flintstone are approached, as these and the slopes at the 

 foot are composed to a considerable degree of thin limestones, with 

 a considerable amount of shale in associated beds. These soils are 

 of a character suited to the growth of wheat and corn, and in this 

 region a considerable amount of hay is also raised. Oats and rye 

 are grown to a considerable extent, wheat not doing well on the 

 higher ground and being replaced by the other cereals. The farm 

 buildings in this limestone belt resemble those of the broad valley 

 lands about Hagerstown or Frederick, being of the same substantial 

 character, often of the bank barn type, and large to correspond to 

 the crops cared for. The contrast in a few miles between such 

 barns and the log barns of the steeper slopes, and less productive 

 shale soils is strong evidence along the line of soil fertility as in- 

 fluenced by the source from which the soil has been derived, i e. — 

 from shales of unfavorable weathering qualities, or from limestones 

 which weather to fine loams. 



There are two belts of the more fertile type of soil between the 

 valley at Flintstone and the edge of the Midland Zone at Cumber- 

 land. The characteristics of the two areas are so similar that more 

 detailed mention of them is not needed, the last paragraph giving 

 the essential features. Between these fertile areas there are ex- 

 posures of the same shale soils that have been seen at frequent inter- 

 vals since entering the ridge region at North Mountain, and these 

 continue to the immediate vicinity of the city of Cumberland, as 

 may be seen by reference to the map accompanying the volume on 

 Physical Features of Maryland. 



MOUNTAIN ZONE. 



The Mountain Zone, extending from Cumberland to the western 

 boundary of the State, is a part of the Plateau area which extends 

 into Pennsylvania on the north, and into West Virginia on the south 

 and west. Fudges are still present, but they rise from a base already 



