Dorchester County. 



77 



wood can be removed, largely because of its greater weight and the 

 attendant difficulty of handling. Here the timber is "snaked" out 

 to land which is dry enough for the use of high-wheel carts, the logs 

 then being slung under the wheels and transported to the sawmills, 

 or, in the case of mine props, to the railroads. Clear cutting is some- 

 times practiced in pine stands, but the usual method is to cut to a dia- 

 meter of 6 or 8 inches on the stump. There is little demand for cord- 

 wood except near the towns and watercourses, and there is consequent- 

 ly much debris iisually found-on the ground after logging. 



There are 37 mills in Dorchester County which, together with the 

 timber men and farmers who work in the woods for part of the year 

 at least, produced a cut of lumber in 1914 amounting to 2,231,160 

 cubic feet, and valued at $352,405. Lumber, especially pine, was by 

 far the most important of the forest products, with cordwood second, 

 then piling, lath, poles, railroad ties, mine-props, posts and shingles. 

 There are 43 miles of railroad in the County which aid in marketing 

 the forest crop, and also furnish a limited market for cross-ties. The 

 roads in the County are reasonably good, and a fair share of its area 

 accessible by the water route. There is a retail yard at Aireys, one at 

 Hurlock, and two at Cambridge ; also, at the latter place, a boat yard, 

 with planing mills at Cambridge, East New Market, Hurlock, and 

 Williston ; and factories for boxes or crates at Cambridge, Hurlock, 

 East New Market, Rhodesdale and Williamsburg. 



Good forest management presents several problems in this County. 

 Since the loblolly pine is the most valuable species and well adapted 

 to nearly all of the County's soils, it is the first tree to be encouraged 

 in reproduction. The next in importance as being particularly adapt- 

 ed to moist soils is red gum, and there are relatively few areas in this 

 entire county that are sufficiently suitable for oak. The question of 

 management is here largely one of favoring red gum in the poorly 

 drained situations, and loblolly elsewhere. Both are trees of consid- 

 erable value and good growth, and their encouragement cannot but 

 result well for the timber owners of the County. 



