MARYLAND GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



299 



Chestnut and Oak, which sprout readily. In regions where fires 

 occur the stands are very thin and open (Plate XXVI, Fig. 1), allow- 

 ing Scrub Pine and Mountain Laurel to come in. 



The character of this timber is shown in the following table: 



TABLE SHOWING RELATIVE ABUNDANCE OF SPECIES IN THE BARRENS 



TIMBER. 



Average of 48 acres. Trees 5 inches and over in diameter breast high. 



Average Average 



Average Percentage diameter stand 



number of of each breast high. per acre. 



Species. trees per acre. species. Inches. Cords. 



Red and Black Oaks.' 49 31 12 2.56 



Chestnut 36 23 10 2.10 



White Oaks 30 19 10 .94 



Chestnut Oak 22 14 8 .60 



Tulip-tree 



Other species 21 13 9 .85 



Average of all species 158 10.3 100 7.05 



NOTE. 

 Red and Black Oaks 



include: Red, Scarlet, Yellow, Spanish, Pin, Black Jack, Willow, and 

 Bartram Oaks. 

 White Oaks 



include : White and Post Oaks. 

 Other species 



include : Red Cedar, Scrub Pine, Mockernut and Pignut Hickories, 

 Locust, Beech, Red Maple, Largetooth Aspen, Black Gum, 

 Sweet Gum, Dogwood, Sassafras, Mountain Laurel, and Blue 

 Beech. 



The total stand on the 20,000 acres of the Barrens is 141,000 

 cords. Most of the wood cut here is made into charcoal. A cord of 

 wood properly burned yields 25 bushels of coal; so that, reduced to 

 the charcoal burner's unit, the total yield would be 3,525,000 bushels. 

 This amount of coal can be made from the Barrens timber, but the 

 thinness of the stands over the greater part of the area so increases 

 the cost of hauling and cutting as to make the work unprofitable. 

 The thinness of the stands is due to fire, and the fires are due to 

 carelessness. The normal wood production for the Barrens is in the 

 neighborhood of 30 cords per acre. Burnt areas yield less than ten 

 cords per acre. The difference, 20 cords, worth $1.00 per cord, 

 represents the loss per acre from fire. The burning of 100 acres of 



