48 



The Forests op Maryland. 



forests is a good index of the time when such lands ceased to be culti- 

 vated. 



Existing forests are largely of the hardwood type, consisting of 

 oaks, chestnut, hickory, gum, tulip poplar, maple, and a variety of 

 others in varying proportions. The gum, particularly the red or sweet 

 gum, is found on the moist soils usually associated with maple, black 

 gum and beech, while the yellow poplar and the more valuable oaks 

 occur on the lower slopes, chestnut generally occupying the higher and 

 dryer situations. Pine stands comprise only 19 per cent of the total 

 wooded area, there being but two kinds of pine in the county, the very 

 common scrub, or spruce pine, and the pitch pine, often described as 

 foxtail pine. Stands of hardwood include 74 per cent of the total area 

 in woodland, with the remaining 7 per cent in mixed stands of hard- 

 wood and pine. On the 92,266 acres of forest land there is a stand of 

 128,517,000 board feet of saw timber. Hardwood timber amounting 

 to 5,000 or more board feet per acre occupies 6,744 acres, and hard- 

 woods of less than that, 61,178 acres; pine stands of 5,000 feet or more 

 represent an acreage of 8,430, and less than this, 9,085 ; while mixed 

 stands of each, all of them less than 5,000 feet per acre, cover 6,829 

 acres. 



Uses op the Forests. 



It is estimated that the number of persons finding continuous em- 

 ployment in the forest industries of Anne Arundel county is about 

 375, or a proportionately greater number for shorter periods of time, 

 and that these several industries represent capital invested of $400,- 

 000. Raw products sold are valued at $130,099, and those manufac- 

 tured at $60,000 more. The producers give employment to about 

 three-fourths of the total labor employed, and represent about one- 

 half the total capital. They are well distributed over the entire coun- 

 ty, but the manufacturers are restricted to two districts, Annapolis 

 and Brooklyn. 



Producers of wood comprise twenty-two timber operators, a few 

 getting out ties, telephone poles, piling and special products, but the 

 majority of them cutting lumber. There are six sawmills which may 

 be classed as permanent or stationary, and the remainder are the 

 small portable mills, which move about from place to place, cutting 

 timber where they can find it. The operators send their products 

 over the 88 miles of railroad in the county to nearby inland points, 

 or market them via the water route in New York, Philadelphia and 

 Baltimore. In the City of Annapolis there are four firms which deal 

 in lumber, handle builders' supplies and do manufacturing of such 

 general planing mill products as sash, doors and blinds, and at Brook- 



