The Wood-Using Industries op Maryland. 



33 



ed the centering of these establishments. In the case of Baltimore 

 these reasons are very obvious — labor, markets, means of transporta- 

 tion, and adequate facilities of every sort immediately at hand. For 

 Hagerstown also the reasons are quite apparent since it possesses, next 

 to the City and County just mentioned, the finest railway transpor- 

 tation of any section of the State. Washington County itself has the 

 second largest county mileage in steam and electric roads, and Hagers- 

 town, at its center, is reached by a network of lines from points out- 

 side. This unusual accessibility by rail also tends to promote condi- 

 tions of labor and the supply of laborers, while a further advantage 

 which should not be undervalued lies in the large supplies of wood 

 and timber which are constantly being cut in the mountain country 

 to the west, not only in the two Maryland counties of Garrett and Al- 

 legany, but in the adjoining States of Pennsylvania and West Vir- 

 ginia. Incidentally, the timber purchased locally in the Hagerstown 

 valley, because of the favorable conditions under which it grows, is of 

 exceptional grade and adaptability. 



Salisbury possesses decided advantages in combined water and rail 

 shipment. It is convenient to the pine-producing centers of the 

 Southern seaboard from which is drawn the great bulk of its rough 

 lumber for manufacture and Wicomico County itself has woodland 

 aggregating 46 per cent of its total area. It is nearby other counties 

 with still larger areas of timber, all condiieive to supplying material 

 for industries of far-reaching importance. 



As was pointed out. in the early part of the Chapter, the industries 

 producing wood, with those manufacturing products of wood and 

 therefore dependent to a certain extent upon the forest resources, to- 

 gether represent various business and industrial activity of State-wide 

 magnitude. They are industries which we could not afford to be with- 

 out, and which we could therefore afford to perpetuate. In this con- 

 nection a glance at the annual cut, yearly growth and present stand 

 of the timber in Maryland is quite revealing. It is probable that the 

 avei'age annual increment of wood per acre for all the forests of the 

 State cannot exceed 15 cubic feet. The total growth, upon tlie basis 

 of this consumption, is 33,420,690 cubic feet ; the annual cut is at 

 present 46,949,181 eu. ft. ; and the amount of timber now standing 

 317,871,408 cu. ft. Tlie annual growth is but 71 per cent of the total 

 production, which in turn amounts yearly to 15 per cent of the whole. 

 Very little reflection or calculation is necessaiy to indicate that much 

 timber is being cut faster than it is grown. It is a good deal of a cer- 

 tainty that the annual cut will not appreciably diminish for some time 

 to come, and it is equally sure that under present conditions and pre- 

 valent methods the annual growth will not be greatly increased. 



