Extent And Importance op Forests. 



11 



raout section, in which the soils are derived from granite rock, princi- 

 pally consist of loams and clays with rock fragments and gravel, while 

 the mountain soils of the western section contain a predominance of 

 sandy or stony loam soils in the Blue Ridge section, a larger propor- 

 tion of clay and clay loam in the Alleganies. Existent differences in 

 soils, topography and elevation account for the great diversity of 

 products and conditions prevailing in the State of Maryland. 



The total area of the State is 12,210 square miles, of which 2,319 

 square miles are water. The extreme breadth from north to south near 

 the eastern shore of the Chesapeake is 128 miles, while it is only about 

 2 miles aci-oss near Hancock. The land area, comprising 6,330,039 

 acreSj 9,891 square miles, consists of 2,228,046 acres of woodland, 

 representing 35 per cent; 3,222,982 acres of improved farm land, 51 

 per cent; 674,955 acres of waste lands, 11 per cent; and 204,056 acres 

 of salt marsh land, 3 per cent. This is later shown by counties and in 

 more detail. 



EXTENT AND IMPORTANCE OF FORESTS. 

 The forests of the State are generally distributed, although the 

 mountain counties have the largest percentage, the southern and east- 

 ern shore counties rank next, and the central counties last. Maryland 

 has been settled so long that the land has in the main been assigned to 

 its most profitable uses, and hence the mountain section, containing 

 a large per cent of high, rocky lands unfit for anything but forestry 

 or grazing, has to a large extent remained under a forest cover. Like- 

 wise the lands in sovithern Maryland, located along hillsides or slopes 

 of ravines where soil erosion is excessive under cleared conditions, 

 have either remained in woodland or, if cleared, have been allowed to 

 grow up again in forest. The large wooded areas on the eastern shore 

 peninsula are accounted for by the large percentage of swamp land 

 which cannot be cultivated, but which will generally support a satis- 

 factory growth of forest. In the central and north-central portions of 

 the State, where the land is well-drained and fertile, there is the 

 largest percentage under cultivation, the forest being confined chiefly 

 to rocky ridges and hillsides, and along the streams. The wooded area 

 here is therefore circumscribed, and there is not likely to be a marked 

 change in its relationship. It is true that in some sections clearing is 

 going on rapidly, but in others there are abandoned fields growing up 

 in forest, so that one very nearly offsets the other, and the total re- 

 mains about the same. 



EARLY FOREST HISTORY. 

 When the first settlers came to Maryland some 275 years ago, 

 forest covered the entire land area of the State with the exception of 



