The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1914-11-05

with frequent patches of plum brush
and alders.
The woodlands of the county comprise
63 per cent of the total area. which is
the highest percentage of woodland of
any county in the State. Practically
all of the prominent mountain ridges
are covered with forests. and woodlots
of varying sizes are well distributed on
the farms in the valleys. 1t is quite
certain that the entire county, with
the exception OF the glades, was for
merly wooded. The good quality of
the land early attracted settlers, and
under the constant influx of immigrants,
the best of the suitable lands have been
| cleared. The forests, have, therefore,
receded from the valleys and are now
mostly confined to the mountains and
rugged slopes. The bulk of the wood
lands is in large holdings. usually in
the hands of lumber or coal companies.
AS rule the woodlands in the valleys
are held by farmers in woodlots or
small timber areas. Some of the best
timber of the county is in these wood
lots that have. by reason of greater is
olation and better care, suffered less
from forest fires.
The county at one time contained
magnificent virgin forest of white pine,
hemlock and mixed hardwoods, princi-
pally oak, maple and chestnut. The
| period Of most extensive cutting of the
pine and hemlock eliminated about So
or 40 years ago, when nearly all of the
white pine forests disappeared. The
cutting of the forests growth increased
the fire danger and in consequence
culling, combined with fire damage,
has largely prevented the cut-over
lands from producing forests. To-
day there are only a few small areas
that remain in the virgin condition.
Most of the woodlands have been cut
over more than once, the number of
times depending upon the intensity of
the first cutting. In most cases, how
ever, logging railroads were built to
get out the timber and under such con-
ditions, especially within the past
twenty-five years, the cutting was
done with the object of leaving moth
ing that would pay for the cost of
removal. For the past ten years most
of the cutting has been TO small
enough limit to include mine props,
which will ordinarily take trees as small
as six inches on the stump. The
forests consist. therefore, principally
of young growth with large scattering
of old, mature, understandable trees,
not considered worth cutting when the
lands were cut over.
The present condition of the young
growth depends upon whether or not
fires have damaged it. Where fires
have run through the woods the result
is usually scrubby. inferior growth,
but where fires have been excluded the
stands are generally very thrifty and
promising. There are striking differ
ences in the forests of different sec
tons of the county, due to drainage and
composition of the soil. Along the
high plateau in the vicinity of Deer
Park, Mountain Lake Park, and south
of Oakland, there are many pure stands
of white oak. White oak generally
forms over so per cent of the stands in
this section, while in the eastern sec
ton of the county, this species consti-
tutes only small per cent of the stand.
Outside of the white oak tpye of forest.
which occurs on the clay soils in the
west central part of the county, the
forest types are determined largely by
the drainage conditions and the ex-
posture. Along the crests of the mount
ain such trees as chestnut, chestnut
oak, scarlet oak and birch predominant,
while on the lower slopes and along the
ravines sugar maple, beech, white oak,
Eastwood. and cucumber, and in the
moist situations, particularly on the
north slopes hemlock is frequently
found. Between these extremes a
number of forests types occur. depend
ing upon the character of soil and
moisture conditions. On the thin soil
near the mountain tops, especially in
exposed situations, the trees are short
and scrubby in appearance. 1t is in
these situations also where the fire
damage is greatest.
High School Mites