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ST. MARY'S COUNTY.

This is the oldest county in the State. Oa the banks or
St. Mary's, an arm of the Potomae River in this county, was
established the first form of government that gave to man
full liberty to worship the great Supreme Being according to
the teachings of his own reason, and established the first asy-
lum for liberty of conscience known to history; full right to
worship with no restrictions to those whose faith might differ
from the governing power; no persecution of the weak; none
of diverse sects; none to the Heathen. Justice, love and
mercy were the watchwords of the first Colonists, and with
these they attained temporal prosperity, and, we must be-
lieve, everlasting rest.

The characteristics of the first settlers are in a great de-
gree maintained by their descendants to this day, and it is no
fault of theirs if, in consequence of the present state of things,
that their prosperity is much diminished, and necessity com-
pels them to part with many homes formerly the abode of
peace, happiness and prosperity.

This county its bounded on the north by Charles
county; on the south it terminates in a Cape well known to
the country as Point Lookout; on the east by the Patuxent.
river, which separates it from Calvert county, and by the
Chesapeake bay, and on the west by Charles county and the
Potomae river. The county is about forty-two and a half"
miles in length, with a breadth of from about nine miles at
its widest part to a point at its southern extremity. The
peninsula which forms this county has in its middle portion
high, elevated hills and table land, from two to three hun-
dred feet above tide, which gradually decline as we approach
the Patuxent, the Bay and Potomae. A short distance above
Point Lookout the land is more flat and level, but by no
means wet, boggy or marshy, all being easily drained and
made fit for cultivation. It is well timbered, wooded and wa-
tered, some of the streams affording good water power. The
soil, as in the whole of the tide water region, varies from
coarse sands to heavy, rich clays, thus affording choice for the
the cultivation of various crops that require soils of specific
physical qualities for their appropriate development.

In the northern part of the county the soils, for the most
part, are light and sandy. On the Patuxent there are found
soils to a large extent of loamy clay, approaching in their
texture and conformation to the West river Green Sand soils.
These extend, with some intermissions, to the Wicomico-
river and the Potomac. Towards the mouth of the Patux-
ent, and for a considerable distance above it, the white oak
soils are found in great excellence; these, too, form a great
portion of the soils on the bay and on the Potomae river, pos-