60 



The Forests op Maryland. 



adapted to pine. Stands of hardwood and of pine are very evenly 

 matched so far as their extent is concerned, there being 34 per cent 

 of each in the County's wooded area, while the remaining 32 per cent 

 is comprised of a mixed stand of each. The forest survey of 1910 in- 

 dicated that of the total area in woodland, 1,861 acres contain stands 

 of hardwood in excess of 5,000 feet per acre, while the much greater 

 total of 19,775 acres has stands of less than this; pine stands of 5,000 

 feet or more occupy 1,825 acres, with 19,206 acres or less; while 20,- 

 167 acres represent the area in mixed, stands, all of which fall under 

 5,000 feet per acre. 



Uses of the Forests. 

 The timber cut of Caroline County for the past five years has, con- 

 sidering the County's size, been exceptionally large, but is now rapid- 

 ly becoming less as the result of timber exhaustion which seems to be 

 quite general. In 1914 the 61 sawmills, and probably many more in- 

 dividual operators among the landowners and farmers, produced a 

 total of 1,546,000 cixbic feet of wood, with a value at the mill or ship- 

 ping point of $178,654. In this County as in the rest, lumber is the 

 most important of its forest products, both in amount and value, it 

 being followed by cordwood, piling, mine props, railroad ties, pulp- 

 wood, poles, lath, shingles, and fence posts. There was also a large 

 amount of veneer included in the total lumber cut, there being a con- 

 siderable demand for such material because of the number of local 

 concerns using fruit and vegetable packages made up of cheap 

 veneers. In fact, the falling off in the County's present timber cut is 

 having a marked influence upon these separate industries, as the 

 boxes, crates, baskets, and construction material which they require 

 for canning, trucking, and building cannot be obtained elsewhere as 

 advantageously as they may be at home. There are 7 retail yards and 

 4 planing miUs which are well distributed over the County, they being 

 located at Denton, Goldsboro, Greensboro, Preston, and Eidgely; at 

 Greensboro and Ridgely are plants manufacturing crates and baskets, 

 box factories at Denton, Federalsburg, and Preston. Wood-using in- 

 dustries are well represented in this County, as they should be in a 

 section where timber production and timber growing are both of im- 

 portance. 



Transportation facilities are excellent for marketing forest pro- 

 ducts, and there is little of the County's timber which cannot be used 

 because it is inaccessible. The Choptank River is navigable as far as 

 Denton, the County seat, and 4 lines of railway traverse Caroline 

 County for a total of 45 miles. No section is farther than 7 miles 

 from a railroad, which, together with the considerable number of im- 

 proved macadam roads extending in all directions, gives to the entire 

 County excellent means of transportation. 



