WORCESTER COUNTY. 



"Worcester, the southernmost county of the State, is also the only 

 one to front on the Atlantic Ocean. It is of irre^lar shape, generally 

 long and narrow, with the Chincoteague, Sinepuxent and Assawoman 

 Bays in the east, Delaware on the north, "Wicomico County on the north- 

 west, Somerset County on the west, and "V^'irginia on the south. With 

 its low, flat surface, all of it less than 50 feet above sea-level, mild, 

 even climate and sandy soil, it is very much the opposite, topographic- 

 ally and generally, from Garrett County at the State's other extreme, 

 where mountains, heavy forests of hardwood, and a rigorous climate 

 prevail. Here the chief topographic features are the ocean front, out- 

 lined by a sand bar which extends in an even line northeast and south- 

 west, and behind this protecting bar a number of bays from which 

 numerous, though short, tidal streams extend inland. The Pocomoke 

 River, navigable for steamboats as far as the county seat. Snow Hill, 

 forms the principal drainage system of the county, and at the same 

 time is its chief means of water transportation. Local soils are for 

 the most part sandy, with good sand loams in the more exhausted 

 northern and central portions. 



The Forests. 



Worcester has the greatest percentage of forest of any county on 

 the Eastern Shore, 47 per cent of its total area in land being wooded, 

 in spite of the fact that in different parts of the county, the northeast- 

 em section especially, large areas have been cleared of forest during 

 the past 10 years. The principal species at present here, as in most 

 of the Eastern Shore counties, is the loblolly pine. There are a few 

 small areas of cypress along the Pocomoke and its tributaries, this 

 county containing more cypress timber than any other in Maryland. 

 The southwestern half of the county contains the greatest areas in 

 pure pine stands, while in the northeastern section the pine is gen- 

 erally in mixture with hardwoods. The stands of hardwood are for 

 the most part small and scattered, usually occurring along the shores 

 of streams. Principal among them are some of the oaks — white, 

 swamp white, black, Spanish, and willow — red maple, red gum, and 

 black gum. Hardwoods are of relatively minor importance, but the 

 amount of standing pine timber is only exceeded in Dorchester Coun- 

 ty, and the total stumpage in Dorchester and Garrett. 



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