abound in the county waters. Sand, clay, and marl make a diversified soil, and corn, wheat, potatoes, tomatoes, and fruits are grown. Great quantities of oysters, tomatoes, and corn are used by the packing-houses. The annual income from the oyster catch is $1,000,000 or more, and Dorchester ranks next to Somerset in this industry. Cambridge is the home port of a vast fleet of dredging and tonging vessels, the seat of large packingestablishments, of shipyards and other manufactures. The Cambridge and Seaford and the Baltimore, Chesapeake, and Atlantic railroads traverse northeastern Dorchester, and steam and sailing vessels reach all parts of the county lying on water. Cambridge, the county seat, with a population of 6,407, has a fine salt-water situation on the Great Choptank, 18 miles from its mouth. The river here, between the Dorchester and Talbot shores, is several miles in width, and the town is built on level ground, extending to the water's edge. The streets are well shaded, and brick and stone structures predominate in the business section. East New Market is in the midst of a thriving agricultural section, has a population of 280, and Secretary (on Secretary Sewell's creek), Hurlock, Williamsburg, Salem, Taylor's Island, Bucktown, Linkwood, Dailsville, are some Dorchester villages. Vienna, on the Nanticoke, was long noted for its shipyards, and many swift and shapely ocean-going vessels were built there before steam and iron supplanted wood, and when the white oak forests of Dorset still afforded the best material known in former naval construction. Dorchester was harried by the British during the War of 1812. Governor John Henry, first United States senator from the Eastern Shore, and William Vans Murray were from this county.

Cecil county, named in honor of the second Lord Baron of Baltimore, was erected in 1674, the tenth county in order of formation, and it is situated in the northeast corner of Maryland, on the borders of Pennsylvania and Delaware, and cut off from the remainder of the state by the Sassafras river on the south, and the Chesapeake bay and Susquehanna river on the west. It is one of the smaller counties in area 350 square miles much of which is, however, under water, as it is intersected by several rivers, notably the North East, the Elk, and the Bohemia.

The surface throughout is rolling, the northern portion being hilly; this gives considerable water power, which is utilized by a number of large paper, iron, cotton, flour, phosphate, kaolin, and fluor-spar mills. The third largest pulp and paper mill in the United States is located at Elkton, the county seat. In the eighteenth century the output of pig and bar iron at the Principio Company's furnaces was the largest in America. The soil generally is fertile, varying from a yellow clay in the south to a disintegrated rock in the north, producing fruits, grain, and hay in abundance. So noted has its hay crop become that the highest grade on the Baltimore market is known as "Cecil county hay." Along the Susquehanna river are several large granite quarries, affording the best building material, a stone which, when polished, as is done at Port Deposit, is excelled in beauty by no other. Kaolin is largely worked for use in the manufacture of paper and in porcelain factories, and chrome has been extensively mined. Although possessing such excellent water facilities, marsh land is almost unknown. The banks of the Susquehanna river rise abruptly to a height of from 80 to nearly 600 feet. At Port Deposit the granite banks rise almost perpendicularly 200 to 300 feet. The fisheries, as might be expected, are of much importance. Elkton, the largest town, has about 2,487 inhabitants, followed by Port Deposit, Perryville, Rising Sun, North East, Chesapeake City, and Cecilton. The scenery in places is picturesque in the extreme. That along the Susquehanna, near Conowingo, and on the Octoraro, near Porter's Bridge, attracts artists from a distance, and compares most favorably with the Wissahickon and other rugged streams so often delineated by the painter's brush. The county is about equidistant from Philadelphia and Baltimore, is intersected by the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore; the Philadelphia division of the Baltimore and Ohio, and the Baltimore Central

railroads, also by the Chesapeake and Delaware canal. Cecil county was one of the first to engage in school work. In 1723 the colonial legislature appointed a committee consisting of John Ward, John Dowell, Benjamin Pearce, and others, to open free schools, and they opened one. St. Stephen's Church, organized in 1692, opened a public school about 1734. The Friends' Meeting House at Calvert was organized by William Penn in 1702, and soon after opened a school. The church of St. Francis Xavier was organized in 1704, and afterward opened a school. The county in 1859 organized a system of free public schools, thus antedating that of the state six years. Among the more prominent private schools are the West Nottingham Academy, opened about 1741 by Rev. Samuel Finley, who afterward became the president of Princeton University. It is situated near Colora. The Tome Institute, most beautifully situated on the bluff at Port Deposit, presided over by Dr. T. S. Baker, with a corps of over 60 teachers, and more than 500 pupils, was endowed by the late Jacob Tome with several millions of dollars.

Prince George's county, named in honor of Prince George of Denmark, husband of Queen Anne, was formed in 1695, having been originally a part of Charles. The seat of local government was first established at Mt. Calvert on the Patuxent river, but it was soon removed to Upper Marlborough (named for the Duke of Marlborough, in 1706). The number of white children of school age is over 6,000, while that of colored children is under 5,000. Prince George's is one of the most progressive and prosperous counties of the state. Its growth is promoted largely by its proximity to the national capital. The resources of the county are mainly agricultural. In the upper section, bordering upon the District of Columbia, trucking is followed to a large extent. In the middle and southern sections, corn, wheat, and tobacco are cultivated - the last named on an extensive scale, forming the staple product. The annual output of the county is larger than that of any other of the tobacco-growing counties. The principal towns are Upper Marlborough, Laurel, Hyatts