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The Forests of Maryland. 



Much of the woodland is in farm woodlots of 10 to 100 acres each, 

 representing the non-arable land that is too steep and rocky for agri- 

 cultural use. Clearing is in progress in many sections and will likely 

 continue throughout the County, and very little land that has been 

 once cleared and cultivated is allowed to revert to forest. Existent 

 forests are almost entirely of the mixed hardwood type, and on the 

 strong soils their growth is relatively rapid. There is noticeable con- 

 siderable variation in the mixed hardwoods, due largely to topography 

 and, to some extent, the character of the soil. The most apparent dif- 

 ference in this respect is the fact that chestnut, the most important 

 species in the upper end of the County, rarely occurs in the southern 

 section. The principal associates occurring with chestnut in the north- 

 eastern part are chestnut oak, Spanish and black oaks, hickory and 

 black gum, and all occur on ridges or soils where drainage is good. 

 Along the watercourses and lower slopes adjacent to streams, where 

 the soils are deep and fertile, the more common species are tulip pop- 

 lar, red oak and white oak. In the tidal or southern part of the 

 County, where the land is more or less swampy, red gum, black gum, 

 pin oak and red maple are the principal timber trees. In the vicinity 

 of Rocks there is a considerable amount of chestnut and chestnut oak 

 coppice, the result of cutting for charcoal to supply the iron furnace 

 operated here many years ago. Of the two gums occurring, the black 

 gum is the more common, being scattered pretty generally through the 

 forests of the entire County, while the red gum is found only in the 

 Coastal Plain division, often, in wet, swampy lands, forming a practi- 

 cally pure stand. 



Of the County's entire wooded area, it was shown by the survey of 

 1909 that 99 per cent is in mixed hardwood growth and only 1 per 

 cent in pine. There are 6,303 acres of the former which have stands 

 amounting to 5,000 or more board feet to the acre, 75,234 acres hav- 

 ing stands of less than this ; of the pine, there are only 335 acres of 

 less than 5,000 feet. 



Uses op the Forests. 



The combined cut of the 27 sawmill and timber operators of Har- 

 ford County, in 1914, was 774,555 cubic feet of wood, with a value of 

 $118,342. Lumber of course makes up the great bulk of this, both as 

 to amount and value, being followed by poles, railroad ties, cordwood, 

 piling, pulpwood, posts, shingles and lath. Harford has been one of 

 the Counties seriously affected by the chestnut blight, and it is partly 

 due to this that the County's present cut of chestnut for poles has 



