Worcester Democrat and the ledger-enterprise. (Pocomoke City, Md.) 1921-1953, 1940-04-26
GOVERNMENT
DRAINAGE OF
COUNTY LANDS

lowing preamble and article by an
agricultural correspondent.
Much of the farm land Of the lower
Eastern Shore is so badly drained
that, under the best of conditions, it
is difficult to manage. The rains of
the last week have converted these
badly drained areas into a sodden
morass. Our agricultural correspond
ent, learning that an effort to bring
this land back into cultivation by re-
opening the clogged waterways of the
region, made visit to the drainage
area of the Pocomoke river recently.
This is report of what he found:
When our party in search of tax
bitches on the Eastern Shore reached
Berlin, it was met by G. Hale Harri-
son, the nurseryman. Mr.. Harrison
was born and raised in Worcester
county and knows a lot about its his
tory. The name of the town, by the
way, is associated with the capital of
Germany only by accident. Accord
ing to Mr.. Harrison, it was originally
Berley and passed through numerous
interpretations and spellings before
it reached Berlin.
Mr.. Harrison pointed out on the
ground what Mr.. Ray w. Carpenter
agricultural engineer, had already ex-
planned to your correspondent on the
map, about the drainage area of this
section of the Shore. Running north
and south through Berlin is a ridge,
almost imperceptible to the eye but
sufficiently high to serve as a water
shed. The eastern slope is drained by
the Trappe river which flows into
Sinepuxent Bay. The strip of coun-
try between the ridge and the sea-
coast is z miles wide and is COM
posed of fertile, well-drained soil,
suitable for all sorts of crops. Much
of it is devoted to truck farming.
West of the ridge the Pocomoke
river rises in Sussex county, Della
ware. The ridge cuts it off from the
ocean and so the Pocomoke meanders
along for distance of some thirty
miles to the southwest to tidewater
above Snow Hill, and evntually into
Pocomoke Sound on the bay below
the Virginia line. The Pocomoke
drainage area is some seventeen miles
wide. Nevertheless there was a time
when the Pocomoke, it's tributaries
and tax bitches were sufficient for
the drainage needs of the soil. Mr..
Harrison says that for over $50 years
this section of Worcester and Wicomi-
co were as fine farming lands as were
to be found on the Shore. Prior to
the Civil War most of the farms were
owned by the Henry and the Shovel
families. The remains of what were
once fine old brick houses surrounded
by extensive fields are impressive evil
dences of a better day.
The Pocomoke, according to geolog-
lists, is a continuation of the Dismal
Swamp of Virginia and North Caro-
lima, it's flora and fauna being very
similar. Cypress grows abundantly
in and around the river. From the
earliest times cypress was used for
hand-hewn shingles. But about 1900
the more general commercial value of
cypress was realized and numbering be
came an important industry. The
people in the neighborhood made a
livelihood out of numbering in the
winter and growing Strawberries in
the summer. But they were careless
about the way they did their lum-
bering, left fallen trees that collected
silt and so choked the river channel.
AS a result, after hard rains, the
water backs up into the drainage ditch
es and fields are sodden for days in
stead of hours. On the Worcester
side of the river the soil is a heavy
clay which bakes when it dries. The
dampness, too, has produced disease
among the Strawberries which has
eliminated commercial growing.
So, in recent years, farmers have
been moving out Of the area. Deserted
farms are everywhere. Mr.. Harrison
took us by one of the old Shovel
places which must have been an i'm
pressive house in it's day. 1t now
stands untenanted, window frames re-
moved, scrub pine and broomstraw
growing high where once there were
pleasant lawns. He showed us fields
where attempts had been made to sow
winter wheat, only half of which had
taken seed. Where the farmers con-
tinue to hang on, struggling to raise
corn and little poultry, there are all
the outward and visible signs of the
poverty that grows and flourishes on
barren ground. Yet, Mr.. Harrison is