TOBACCO MANUFACTURE.-The City of Baltimore has always been an important center for tobacco manufacture, including chewing and smoking tobacco and snuff, as well as cigars and cigarettes. FERTILIZERS. The manufacture of fertilizers has been one of the characteristic industries of Maryland, the inception of the industry dating from about 1832, when the demand arose for a fertilizer in connection with tobacco culture. In 1879 Maryland was the leading state in the Union in FIG. 65.-DELIVERING SWEET CORN AT CANNERY, EASTON, TALBOT COUNTY. the manufacture of commercial fertilizers and it to-day ranks second in that respect. Most of the establishments are located in Baltimore or its vicinity, although there are several in other portions of the state. IRON AND STEEL.--The manufacture of iron and steel, especially steel rails and plates for vessels, has increased greatly in importance in the last two decades, the chief industry being the Maryland branch of the Bethlehem Steel Company at Sparrows Point on the Patapsco River below Baltimore. CITIES AND TOWNS The State of Maryland has only four cities of more than 10,000 inhabitants, Baltimore with a population of 558,485 being the only great city. There are only 13 cities and towns which exceed 3000 in population, which shows that the occupation of the people of the counties is chiefly confined to agriculture, although the fishing and oyster industries of the Chesapeake Bay region and the mining and quarrying operations of the western and central counties likewise support a large scattered population. These towns and cities with a population of more than 3000, according to the U. S. Census of 1910, are the following: BALTIMORE, with a population of 558,485, is the most important city of the state. It is situated at the head of navigation, on the Patapsco River, about 13 miles from Chesapeake Bay and 170 miles from the Atlantic Ocean at Cape Henry. Baltimore offers many advantages as a commercial center in its natural location, in its peculiar economic conditions, and in the liberal policy of its municipal administration. Its geographic situation is most advantageous for land and water transportation, direct lines of communication by rail connecting it with the great agricultural and mining regions of the south and west, while numerous FIG. 67.-THE LOWER HARBOR FROM HISTORIC FORT MCHENRY. FIG. 68.-LIGHT STREET WHARVES AT THE HEAD OF BALTIMORE'S HARBOR. lines of steamboats have developed a most important coastwise and foreign trade. Baltimore, named after the then Proprietor of Maryland, Lord Baltimore, was laid out in 1729 on a tract of 60 acres, which cost only $600. Its rapid growth in population and commercial importance has been due to the many favorable conditions before cited. The principal industries are ready-made clothing, oystercanning and fruitpacking, shirts and overalls, fertilizers, straw goods, cotton duck, iron and copper, tobacco, drugs and medicines, clay products, shipbuilding, marble and stone work, lumber, and furniture making. FIG. 69.-VIEW OF CUMBERLAND AND THE NARROWS" OF WILLS MOUNTAIN. Baltimore is renowned for its beautiful parks, places and public buildings, and on account of the many monuments in its public squares has been termed "The Monumental City." Druid Hill Park and Mount Vernon Place are famed for their beauty. Washington Monument, in the center of the latter, was the first of the public monuments to be erected to the Father of his Country. Baltimore is also the seat of the famous Johns Hopkins University and many other similar educational institutions. CUMBERLAND, named after old Fort Cumberland of colonial days, is the second city in importance, with a population of 21,839. It is situated |