34 



The Forests op Maryland. 



There is but one practical solution, and that is more efficiency in 

 forest management, and greater care in the removal of the crop. 

 Through the former there is little doubt that in a comparatively few 

 year's time the production of IMaryland forests might be raised 100 

 per cent. The Board has studied this phase of State Forestry very 

 carefully. It has already assisted several hundred local timber owners 

 to regulate their cut, secure sale of products and augment their pro- 

 duction. But these hundreds should be thousands, and the Board is 

 fully prepared to undertake such problems in every portion of the 

 State at the instance of any woodland owner. 



Better management means increased production ; with increased 

 production there will follow increase of manufacturing. Improved 

 methods, beginning in the woodlot or larger tract of forest land, will 

 extend and be felt through the whole field of production and opera- 

 tion, and with those conditions put in effect, the wood-using industries 

 of Maryland, already of commanding importance, should steadily ad- 

 vance in value and give employment to even greater numbers. 



TRANSPORTATION, MARKETS, AND GENERAL CONDITIONS 

 IN THE LmiBERING AND WOOD-MANUFACTURING 

 INDUSTRIES OF MARYLAND. 



Transportation. Waterways. — Maryland's total area is 12,210 

 miles, of which 2.319 square miles or 19 per cent is water. The great 

 area in waterways is made up of 1,203 square miles in the Chesapeake 

 Bay proper, 93 in Chineoteague Bay, and 1,023 in other estuaries. 

 From the lower end of the Chesapeake, where the jMaryland State-line 

 runs from below Somerset Count}', on the east, to Smith Point, 

 Northumberland County, Virginia, on the west, it is approximately 

 130 miles up the center of the Bay to its end in Cecil County. It is a 

 great waterway, the largest inlet on the Atlantic Coast of the United 

 States. At the entrance it is 12 miles across, later broadening to an 

 average width of 20 miles, and a maximum of 40. 



The eastern and western shores of ^klaryland are veritably honey- 

 combed by navigable, tide-water streams, while the Potomac river, one 

 of the most important, follows the southern and southwestern bound- 

 aries of Maryland throughout. As far as Washington it is navigable 

 by steam vessels, and from there by smaller boats and barges to Chain 

 Bridge, near the District Line. These waterways give ]\Iaiyland an 

 enormous amount of deep-water transportation. They were import- 

 ant factors in the State's settlement, and they are as invaluable now. 



Natural facilities for water transportation are also supplemented 

 bj' several which are artificial. A canal, the Chesapeake and Dela- 

 ware, connects the upper Chesapeake with Delaware River; another 



