124 



The Forests op Maryland. 



of species in the Blue Ridge or eastern mountain section is very much 

 the same, except that there is practically no pine, and greater amounts 

 of chestnut and chestnut oak. The most important timber producers 

 of the valley or central forests, in order of relative abundance, are the 

 black, white and red oaks, hickory, ash, elm, black walnut, and maple, 

 with black locust occurring in small patches throughout the county. 



The forests of Washington County, by the State 's Survey of 1911, 

 are 83 per cent hardwood, 1 per cent pine, and 16 per cent mixed 

 hardwood and pine. There are 4,022 acres of mixed hardwoods con- 

 taining timber estimated at 5,000 board feet or over per acre, and 56,- 

 160 acres where the stand is below this figure ; the 599 acres of pure 

 pine, and the 11,493 acres of hardwood and pine, all amount to less 

 than 5,000 feet per acre. 



Uses of the Forests. 



There are 26 mill and timber men in Washington County who re- 

 ported a cut of 1,485,950 cubic feet for 1914, with a value of $190,850. 

 The lumber cut was, and is, a very heavy item of the total, followed by 

 considerable quantities of railroad ties, poles, cordwood, tanbark, 

 pulpwood, mine props, posts and pinwood, the latter principally lo- 

 cust for telephone use. The cut of ties is especially large, which is 

 not surprising in view of the fact that in this county there are 32 mUes 

 of electric lines and 91 of steam, it ranking next to Baltimore County 

 in having the largest railway mileage in the State. 



Due in part, no doubt, to its facilities for transportation, Wash- 

 ington County is a most important producer and manufacturer of 

 timber. The cut of lumber is practically aU of hardwood, and this 

 finds a ready sale not only in points outside, but in the largest city, 

 Hagerstown, which ranks high in the State in size and number of 

 wood-using industries. There are yards for selling lumber at Boons- 

 boro, Cavetown, Hancock, Keedysville, Maugansville, Sharpsburg and 

 Williamsport, planing mills at Hancock and Williamsport, and a fur- 

 niture factory at Clear Spring, but the centre of the county's activi- 

 ties along these lines is of course at Hagerstown. Reached by a net- 

 work of railways, the city is well suited for manufacturing, and its 

 plants for the manufacture of forest products are especially well de- 

 veloped. There are 6 yards and planing mills, nearly all of them of 

 considerable size ; 6 furniture plants ; 2 plants manufacturing wheel 

 stock and 1, carriages; 1 refrigerator door plant; 1 large pipe organ 

 manufactory; 1 plant turning out telephone pins; and 1 other which 

 manufactures ironing boards, phonographs and novelties. These sev- 

 eral industries mean, for the county, the employment of 1,285 men, 



