Evening star (Washington, D.C.).(Washington, DC) 1915-12 ...
1
Washington's N eigHbors.Prince Georges County,Md. REATER Number of Washington's Inhabitants Were Born in, Prince Georges County Than Any. Other County in the United States.Large Part of the Capital's Food Also Produced in Maryland County, Seventeen Miles of Which Abuts on the District of Colum¬ bia.Principal Towns and Settlements, Soil Conditions, Minerals and Farm Products. Value of Big Tobacco Crop.'The Population and the Forests.Laurel and Upper Marlboro. ST. MARY'S CHURCH, UPPER MARLBORO. The district of Columbia for seventeen miles abuts on the Maryland county of Prince Georges. It is one of the parent counties of the District and the coun¬ ty which grave the greatest area of land to the District. The southerly boundary of the District for its full length of ten miles from Jones point on the west shore of the Potomac river to a point east of Chesapeake Junction fronts 0:1 Prince Georges county, and the easterly boundary of the District for. seven miles from the east angle of the District near Chesa¬ peake junction to a point between the 81igo Mills road and Takoma also fronts on Prince Georges county. The election district® of Prince Georges which adjoin the District of Columbia are Oxon, Spauldings, Seat Pleasant, Bladensburg and Chillum. The east angle of the District projects into Seat Pleasant district, so that that civil sub¬ division of the county abuts for near¬ ly two and a half miles on the south¬ erly and for a mile and a half on the easterly side of the District. Chil¬ lum and Bladensburg districts join the easterly side of the District of Co¬ lumbia, and Oxon and Spauldings the southerly boundary. It is probably true that a greater number of the inhabitants of Wash¬ ington were born in Prince Georges county than in any other county in the United States, and a very large per¬ centage of native-born Washingtonians are descended from Prince Georges families. A considerable portion of Washington's industrial population sleeps in Prince Georges county and a large part of the food which sustains Washington is produced in that county. * * * The northerly aud eastern boundary <*f Prince Georges county is the Pa-- tuxent river. The county line follows the windings of that river from a point three miles northwest of Laurel to the point where Swanson creek flows into the Patuxent. The length of that line is approximately forty-five miles. Along two-thirds of this distance the Patux¬ ent is a picturesque stream, but along the lower third of the county the Pa¬ tuxent is a majestic river, ranging in width from half a mile to two miles. The mouth of Swanson creek is half a mile wide, and if one measures from Chalk point, on the north side, to Point Judith, on the south side, it is a mile. The county adjoining Prince Georges on the north is Howard. The adjoin¬ ing county on the east is Anne Arundel and o/i the southea'st is Calvert county. The south boundary of the county ex¬ tends in an irregular course from the Patuxent to the Potomac and the ap¬ proximate length of this line is thirty- five miles. Beginning in the middle of the Patuxent river, off the mouth of Swanson creek, it follows that creek westerly for four miles, turns north for f<x»r miles, then travels west ward ly in a line for about six miles to the head of Mattawoman creek, and fol¬ lows that creek westwardly for about twelve miles, and then leaving the creek at a point two miles northwest Of Benville Corners, strikes north, with an inclination toward the west, arid reaches the Potomac river a trifle over half a rhil** below the noverumerit fit>h hatchery station at Bryans point. The line crosses the Potomac river, a mile wide, and ends on the Virginia shore close to Mount Vernon, about mid way- bet wee th< landing and Little Hunt¬ ing creek. The county line then follows the west shor«- of the Potomac to Jones point, below * Alexandria, about eight milfH. The county adjoining Prince Georges on th*- south is Charles. The northwest boundary of Prince Georges runs in a line from the dis¬ trict of Columbia, near Takoma, to the upper Patuxent river, about thirteen mile*, and the county on the other side of the line is Montgomery. The ap¬ proximate land area of Prince Georges county is 4SI' .square miles. The county seat is Upper Marlboro, fourteen miles southeast of the <'apitol building, in an air line, but consider- ably farther by wagon road. The principal towns and settlements in the county are Laurel, Hyattsville, River- dale. Mount Rainier, Qollege Park, Berwyn, Branchville, Beltsville. Lake¬ land, Muirkirk, Tuxedo, Magruder, Landover, Ardwick, Seabrook, Glenn-? dale, Springfield, Bowie, Brentwood, Bladensburg, Collington, Mullikin, Hall, Leeland, Croom, Nottingham, Aquasco, Horsehead, Cedarville, Baden, Brandywine, Cheltenham, Talbert, Rosaryville, Suitland, Silver Hill, Camp Springs, Clinton, T. B., Oxon Hill, for a rural county, and the rate, it is believed, has been maintained since the last enumeration. The population of the civil subdivisions of the county in 1910 were: Vanceville district, 2,628; Bladensburg district, including the town of Bladensburg, 2,083; Marlboro district, including the town of Upper Marlboro, 1,593: Nottingham, 1,606; Piscataway district, including the vil¬ lage of Piscataway, 2,421; Spaulding district, 2,192; Queen Anne, 1,812; Aquasco district, 1,190; Surratts. 1,138; Laurel, including the town of Laurel, 2,978; Brandy wine, 1,427; Oxon Hill,' 1,480; Kent, 1.446; Bowie, 1,963; Meli- wood, 1,581; Hyattsville district, in¬ cluding the town of Hyattsville, 2,772; Chillum district, including Mount Rainier and part of Takorna Park, 3,168, and Seat Pleasant, 2,660. The most populous town in Prince Georges county is Laurel, with 2,415 inhabitants; next in population is Hyattsville, with 1,917, and then fol¬ lows Mount Rainier, with 1,242 inhabi¬ tants. These are the figures of the last national census, and there has been a substantial increase during the past five years. Upper Marlboro, the county seat, is a village of 361 inhabitants; Bladensburg has ?. population of 460. and the village of Piscataway, one of the oldest settlements in the United States, and in colonial days a place of considerable size arid commercial im¬ portance, has a population of seventy- five. The white population of Prince Georges county has shown a strong in¬ crease, while the colored population has remained nearly stationary. The num¬ ber of whites in 1S90 was 14,827; col¬ ored, 11,210; 1900, white population, 17,910: colored. 11,985; 1910, white, 24,- 463; colored, 11,493. A large part of the population increase of Prince Georges county has been in the terri¬ tory adjacent to the District of Co¬ lumbia. ? * * In Prince Georges county the native whites of native parentage numbered 21,206; the native whites of foreign or mixed parentage, 2,228; foreign-born whites amounted to 1,209. Of the for¬ eign nationalities represented in the county Germany led with 445. England was next with 201. Russia was third with 94, Ireland had 90, Canada, 77; Aus- of farm, with less than three acres of land. The census value of all farm property in the county in 1910 was $13,063,674, an increase of 40 per cent in the period 1900-1910. The value of the land was set down at $7,871,497, an average value, $32.79 per acre, an increase of $11 an acre during the preceding ten years. The value of the farm buildings of the county was set down at $3,607,- 187: the value of implements and ma¬ chinery, $488,626, and the value of domestic animals, poultry and bees, $1,- 692,856. On the farms of the county were more than 8,000 head of cattle, considerably more than half of that number being dairy cows, and the value of these herds was approximately a quarter of a million dollars. There were 6,700 horses, valued at $642,000; 449 mules, worth $53,000; 10,000 swine, worth $58,- 000, and more than 9,000 sheep, worth over $200,000. * ** In Prince Georges county were pro¬ duced 950,000 gallons of milk, of which about one-third was sold; 5,000 gallons of cream, 176,000 pounds of butter, 6,000 pounds of cheese, and the value of these dairy products, excluding the home use of milk and cream, was $142,- 000. The census reported that the poul¬ try raised in Prince Georges county numbered 177,000, that 461,000 dozen eggs were produced, and that the value of the poultry and eggs produced was $189,000. The total value of all Prince Georges crops was $1,781,000. The county pro¬ duced 720,000 bushels of corn, 12,000 bushels of oats, 55,000 bushels of wheat, 7,000 bushels of rye. 10,000 tons of hay and forage, 275,000 bushels of potatoes, 110,000 bushels of sweet potatoes and 3,542.000 pounds of tobacco. Prince Georges is one of the tobacco counties of the state, 6,252 acres having been planted in that crop in the last census year. The acreage in tobacco in St. Marys county was 5,000. yet that county produced half a million pounds more tobacco than Prince Georges. Charles county, another of the tobacco STREET VIEW IN LAUREL. New Glatz, Friendly, Piscataway, Ac- cokeek, Farmington, Chesapeake Junc¬ tion and Seat Pleasant. * ** The main streams of the county which find their way into the Eastern branch are Northwest branch, Paint and Little Paint branches, Indian creek, Beaverdam creek*1 and "Beaver- dam branch. The main streams .flow¬ ing into the Potomac are Oxon run, Henson creek and Broad creek, Swan creek. Tinkers creek arid Piscataway creek. The streams flowing into the Patuxent are Walker, Crows, Bear and Horsepen branches. New Step branch and Wimms branch, Collington, Bald Hill, Folly, Lottsford, Southwest, Northwest and Western branches. Fed¬ eral Spring branch, Charles branch, Mattaponi creek. Hick creek. Black Swamp creek ami Stanley run. Thou¬ sands of small branches make a close network over the face of the county. Prince Georges county is traversed by the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, the Pennsylvania, the Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis electric rail¬ road, the Chesapeake Beach railroad, the Popes Creek branch of the Penn¬ sylvania. the Southern Maryland.a lit¬ tle railroad running south from Brandywine.and various suburban trolley lines, one running as far as Laurel. There has long been felt the need of electric- lines of communica¬ tion between Washington and that part of Prince Georges which lies south of the I>istrict of Columbia and be¬ tween the Potomac and the Potomac- Patuxeut watershed. The population of Prince. Georges county. according to the census of 1910, was 36,147. In 1900 it was'29,898, and in 1890 it was 26,080, showing a very satisfactory decennial rate of growth tria, 63: Italy, 50; Scotland, 50; Switzer¬ land, 30, and there was a small scat¬ tering of Swedes, Dutch, Norwegians, Hungarians, Greeks, French and Danes. Of the white inhabitants of the county the males numbered 12,893, and the females, 11,750; among the colored the males numbered 5,002, and the fe¬ males, 5,491. The males of voting age numbered 9,966. The number of male illiterates of voting age in 1910 was 1,331, or 13.4 per cent, a decrease from 24.3 per cent in 1900. The number of native white illiterates was set down as 304, and the number of negro il¬ literates was 1,015. The number of children in the county between the ages of 6 and 9 years, in¬ clusive, .was 3,553, and the number in attendance at school was 2,372; the number of children, 10 to 14 years old, was 4,159. and the number attending school, 3,621. Between the ages of 6 and 14 the percentage of native whites of native parents attending school was 84.5; the percentage of native whites of foreign or mixed parentage was 88.5, and the percentage for the colored population was 65.7. The number of dwellings in the county was 7,232, and the number of families, 7,368. The approximate land area of Prince Georges county is 308,480 acres; the land included in farms is 240,036 acres; the improved land in farms, 154,414; woodland in farms, 77,391, and other unimproved lands in farms, 8,231 acres. The number of farms in the county in 1910 was 2,288, against 2,374 in 1900. There were five farms containing 1,000 acres or over; thirty-seven containing between 500 and 999 at'res; 108 contain¬ ing from 260 to 499 acres: 211 of be¬ tween 175 and 259 acres; 425.containing between 100 and 174 acres; 356 from 50 to 99 acres: 454 of between 20 and 49 acres; 300 between 10 and 19 acres; 289 between 3 and 9 acres, and thirteen tracts answering the census definition IN TUB BUMpi SECTION OK UlfUEb in Prince Georges county, and the lfst should be interesting not only to per¬ sons with a geological bent but the student farmers. The table of Prince Georges soil types with the area set forth in round figures follows: Leon- ardtown loam, 45,000 acres; Susque¬ hanna gravel, 41.000; Windsor sand, 37,000; Westphalia sand, 36.000; Meadow, 30,000; Norfolk sand, 23,000; Colllngton sandy loam, 23,000; Susque¬ hanna clay, 22,000; Norfolk loam, 9,000; Sassafras loam, 9,000; Sassafras sandy loam, 5,000; Leonardtown gravelly loam, 4,000; Elkton clay, 1,500; Cecil mica loam, 600. * * * The Leonardtown loam area reaches the boundary of the District and is familiar to Washington people who observe such things. The soil consists of a yellow silty loam, having an aver¬ age depth of ten inches and is under¬ lain by a heavter yellow loam which usually grades into a mottled loam at a depth of twenty-eight to thirty-two inches. At that depth the soil becomes brittle and crumbly and consists of thin layers of clayey loam separated from one another by thin seams or pockets of sand. The whole area of the Leonardtown loam is underlain at varying depths by a bed of coarse gravel mingled with sand, which reaches the surface along the margin of stream valleys. The Leonardtown loam "is one of the heaviest types of soil cultivated in Prince Georges coun¬ ty, and the soil experts say that it is especially adapted to the production of grass, wheat and corn where general farming is practiced and to cabbage, cucumbers and late strawberries in the trucking area. Near Washington this type of soil is found in the Fort Foote neighborhood, the Oxon Hill district and in the highland south of Bryans point and Piscataway creek. A large area of Prince Georges coun¬ ty along the border of Montgomery county and the northern part of the District is of a soil type known as "Leonardtown gravelly loam." Where soils where pine and oaks -will thrive. Most of this land was brought under cultivation prior to 1R60 for the growing of tobacco ami corn. T'nder these exacting crops. however, much of tin* soil became exhausted and was allowed to grow up in brush. The change in industrial conditions following the civil war contributed largely to the increase in the forest areas. In the western section of the county at least much more land has reverted to forest during the past forty or fifty years than has been cleared. The clearing up of the forests of the county is now in process and large acreages of land are being brought back to the plow. The conifers of Prince Georges county are scrub pine, pitch pine, short-leaf pine and red cedar. The common names of the hard¬ woods of the county are: Butternut, black walnut, butternut hicJcory, mock- ernut hickory, pignut hickory, white willow, black willow, largetooth aspen, river birch, sweet birch, blue beech, beech, chinquapin, chestnut, white oak, post oak, overcup oak, chestnut oak, swamp white oak, cow oak. red oak, scarlet oak, black oak, Spanish oak, pin oak, black jack oak. shingle oak, wil¬ low oak. slippery elm, white elm, hack- berry, red mulberry, sweet magnolia, yellow poplar, pawpaw, sassafras, witch hazel, red gum, sycamore, serv¬ ice berry, scarlet haw, Washington haw, black cherry, red bud. 'locust, holly, silver maple, red maple, bass- wood, dogwood, black gum, persimmon, black ash, white ash, red ash and nannyberry which learned Washing- tonians better know as viburnum prunifolium or plum-leaf viburnum. * * * The present annual cut of timber is about the annual rate of growth and the figuresjfor 1907, the latest at hand at the moment, show that the coynty cut was about 4.000,000 feet board measure, about 75 per cent of which was used in the county. Ttoe annual cut of cordwood in the county for shipment outside the county is about 1.400 cords, about 1,000 cords of pine and 400 cords of oak, all of which finds its market either in Washington or Baltimore. Scrub pine, yellow poplar and red gum are being cut for pulp- wood at the rate of about 3,000 cords a year. There is a limited output of railroad ti^s (which at one time was a COURTHOUSE OP PRINCE GEORGES COUNTY. counties, produced 3.439,0fi0 pounds from 4,831 acres. Calvert county pro- duped 3,367,000 pounds of tobacco from o,194 acres, and Anne Arundel county grew 2,561,000 pounds on 3,883 acres of land. * * ^ Prince Georges county had 138,000 fruit trees and produced 63.000 bushels of orchard fruits, 52,000 bushels of ap¬ ples, 2,000 bushels of peaches, 6,500 bushels of peafrs, 1,300 bushels of cher¬ ries. 225.000 pounds of grapes, 690,000 quarts of strawberries. 50,000 quarts of raspberries and 62,000 quarts of black¬ berries. The magnitude of.the tpbaccp crop of Prince Georges county can be under¬ stood by reference to the facts that while the production of the whole state in 1909 was 17,845,699 pounds from 26,- 000 acres of land, the production in Prince Georges county was more than 3,500,000 pounds. For the state of Maryland during the period 1900-1910 the greatest percentages of increase in acres were reported for barley, pota¬ toes. rye and buckwheat, and decreases were recorded in tobacco, wheat and corn, and slight increases in oats, hay and forage. There has been within the memory of men living a great reduction in the to¬ bacco area and production of Prince Georges county. Once nearly all the available land was in tobacco, with corn the second crop in importance. Farming has been considerably diver¬ sified. The growing of vegetables has be¬ come an important industry in the county, and the value of the vegetable crop in the last census year was ap¬ proximately $650,000. Soil areas of wide extent suitable for the cultivation of vegetables exist in Prince Georges county and the trucking industry has been very largely developed for the supply of the Washington markets. In connection with the agricultural resources of Prince Georges county it is. of course, interesting to consider the soils of the county, and any person who is inclined to follow this line of study at length should consult the writings of Jay A. Bonsteel, which have been published for the Maryland geo¬ logical survey by the Johns Hopkins press. In dealing with Prince Georges county Mr. Bonsteel says: The relationship between the geology ami the *oil» of any given area constitutes an important phase of tbe agricultural investigation of tin; region, and the influence exerted hy the geology on the soils is of great importance in the tlien- ret ieal consideration of the origiu of the soils und of practical importance in determining the area, the characteristics and the resources of each particular soil type. * * * * Prince Georges county lies within the coastal plain region of the state, though its extreme northern boundary slightly overlaps upon the Piedmont plateau. Only a single soil type of the county, the Cecil mica loam, is derived from the crystalline rocks of the latter region; all the other soils of the coun¬ ty are derived from the unconsolidated sediments belonging to the Mesozoic aniT Cenozoic portions of the geological column. The Maryland geological sur¬ vey has prepared a table showinx the area of the several soil Jypes oceuring the original plant growth from this soil has been removed it shows a sec¬ ond growth of oak and pine in about equal quantities. The soil students say that this soil is intermediate be¬ tween the heavy grain-producing and the light tobacco and truck soils.' It is a fair corn land and produces good yields of peas, tomatoes, sugar corn and similar crops. Cecil mica loam is a residual soil which is found in the extreme northern part of Prince Georges county and over considerable areas in the District of Columbia- It is found along the steeper streams, where overlying sedi¬ mentary materials have been removed by erosion. It is a friable .yellow loam, containing considerable amounts of mica in small flakes. In dry weather it is loose and appears to be almost sandy, but in' wet weather, because of the mica scales, it feels slippery. The sassafras loam type is one of the high¬ ly esteemed soil types of Prince Georges county for general farming, and the Norfolk loam type, which is found in the "Forests of Prince George" and along the upland of the Patuxent river, is one of the most esteemed soils for the production of tobacco. The soil question is a big and somewhat in¬ tricate question, and many different types of soil are found in the same neighborhood. In a report of the Maryland geolog¬ ical survey is this reference to the Prince Georges market gardens, which help supply Washington; At the present time the land holdings of Prinee Georges county vary in size from 100 and 200 acres up to a thousand acres and more in a single tract. The larger farms are worked under the tenant system, the tenants making pay* ment either in cash or in farm products under varving conditions of contract. Near tbe boundary of the District of Columbia many of the larger farms have been subdivided into small parcels and sold to |»ersous desirous of engaging in market gardening. 1'pon these small tracts are produced radishes, lettuce, tomatoes, cucum¬ bers. melons, green peas, sugar corn and berries which are transported to Washington by team and there either sold from market stalls or peddled from house to house. Upon these ma diet, garden farms an intensive system of cultivation has been practiced in order to pro¬ duce a steady supply of the various crops in season. * It may be news to most of the people of .Washington that the forests of Prince George county are one of the main sources of wealth to tTie county, the*' value of the woodland products being second only to the farm products. The woodlands of the county cover 127,200 acres, or 41 per cent of the area of the county. F. W. Besley of the state board of forestry has written an interesting report on the forests of Prince Georges county, and the follow¬ ing is an extract from a chapter on "The Distribution of the Forests": In the early history of the county the forests constituted by far the larger part of the land area. Owing to the demand for tillable land the forests were rapidly reduced, until practically all of the arable land was cleared for growing crops. Naturally, aloug the Patuxent river (where tbe tide of immigration first set in) the greatest inroads were made on the forest area, until this section known iu the early settlement days as "the Forests -of Prince Georges" has now the smallest percentage of forest land of any part of the county. For the last twentv years there has been little change. The land that was cleared prior to that time is being cultivated and the chances an* that there win be* little change in the woodland area for a long time to come. In the western part of tbe county the conditions arc quite different. The soils of tills section are more diversified and on the whole less adaptable to the growing of agricultural crops. There are large nreas of poorly drained land, also sterile clay and asud ONE OF THE OLD BlILDINGS I* UPPER MARLBORO. their report on the physical features of Maryland, have said that the iron industry in Maryland was developed early in colonial days and continued until a recent date to be one of the most impbrtant factors in the pros¬ perity of the state. The Principio company erected a furnace in Cecil county, at the mouth of Principio creek, in 1722. In 1761 the Governor and council of Maryland reported to the commission of the board of trade and plantations in Eng¬ land that there were eighteen furnaces and ten forges in the state, which made 2,500 tons of pig iron per year. The Muirkirk furnace. in Prince Georges county between Washiirgton most important industry), telegraph and telephone poles, piles and fencing material. * \ - * # For a long period timber buyers have sought choice timber for export, and this trade is still going on, high prices being paid for excellent specimens of black walnut, hickory, poplar, oak and ash. The Maryland board of forestry has reported that "an estimate of the total annual wood and timber cut. of the county, based on the most reliable data obtainable, indicates an equiva¬ lent of 20,000,000 board feet if fire¬ wood be included." According to the board, "the main causes responsible for the present poor condition of the forests are tires, browsing of animals and destructive methods of cutting." Prince Georges county is not rich in mineral resources. The clays consti¬ tute the most valuable mineral deposits in the county. Benjamin I. Miller, on the "Mineral Resources of Prince. Georges .County," says: ".These argil¬ laceous beds are rather generally dis¬ tributed throughout the .county, but, so far as known, they have in recent years been worked only in the vicinity of Washington, and clays are found that are suitable for the manufacture of common brick, fire brick, terra cotta, sewer piper, pottery and the various forms or refractory ware. It is esti¬ mated that the clays of the Potomac group are the most valuable in the county." Iron has been mined anil manufac¬ tured in Maryland since early colonial days and in Prince Georges county for a number of generations. William Bullock Clark and Edward B. Matthews of the Maryland geological survey, in and Laurel, has been in almost con¬ tinuous operation since 1847, and the pig iron which is produced at Muir- kirk is noted for its tensile strength and commands a price above the aver¬ age for pig iron. The ore which is mined close around the furnace is primarily an iron carbonate ore. though much of it has been altered to limo- nite, or hematite near the surface. The oxidized ore is commonly called "brown ore," while the carbonate ore is called "white ore." The carbonate iron of Prince Georges county has been used to a considerable extetit by the United States government, it being guaranteed to stand 30,000 to the square inch in the pig. and many tests have shown it to stand 40,000 pounds. * * ? Mineral paint has been produced since Indian times in Prince Georges county, and one of the streams near Washing¬ ton entering the Eastern branch is called Paint branch, because of the presence of this, mineral paint. The building sands and gravels of Prince Georges county &re largely employed in Washington. The industry is an important one, and will become larger as the city grows and the sand 4ind gravel pits of the District are ex¬ hausted. In the eastern part of the District of Columbia, particularly be¬ yond the Eastern branch, there are numerous grave'l ^>its which geologists say belong to the Sunderland and La¬ fayette formation, and that elsewhere in the vicinity of Washington there are small pits in deposits of Wicomico and Talbot age. The marls of Prince Georges county have been closely studied, and have been used as fertilizer for centuries.r There are still great deposits of marls in the county. A Rood many years ago Prince Georges county had the oil and nat¬ ural gas fever. Although everybody who went into the oil and gas busi¬ ness in the county lost money, yet small amounts of gas and oil have been observed in some places during the sinking of wells and in the vicin¬ ity of streams where there is seepage from porous beds. Borings were made one mile south of Meadows, in Prince Georges county, and although a depth of 1.511 feet was reached and the crystalline rocks probably struck, only "traces of oil and gas were found. Geologists have written that It is not probable that either petroleum or nat¬ ural gas in paying quantities will be found within the limits of the county- The county town. Upper Marlboro, is not a busy place except on certain court days, and tourists may find thrill" there if they happen to be interested in the early history of th.® state and.coun- ty. Many tourists go there by "auto¬ mobile from Washington. The main road between Washington and Marl¬ boro has been vastly improved within the last year or two and automobiles make the trip in much less time than the village can he reached by trains travelintr on their usual schedule. The Pope's Creek branch of the Pennsyl¬ vania railroad from Bowie, on the main line, to Pope's creek, on ths Potomac river, has a station called Upper Marl, boro about one mile northeast of the court souare of the village, aiid the Chesapeake Beach railroad, runnine from the. District line at the east cor¬ ner of the District to the bay, has a station about half a mi\e west of thc- court square. Marlboro is built mainly around the courthouse and in that dis¬ trict are the hotels, the bank, the of¬ fices of lawyers and physicians, the of¬ fices of the two weekly newspapers, and close by are two fine old churches. St. Mary's (Catholic) and Trinity (Episcopal). Marlboro stands clos/» upon Western branch, a stream which has scoured a deep gorge through thf* sandy soil of ti e region and which falls into the Patuxent river about three miles southeast of Marlboro. # ik * Laurel, which is the largest town in the county, and li.3s at the nortlieant boundary, is to quite a degree a sub¬ urb of Washington. It bears th-is char¬ acter, and is increasing its suburban relation because of the ease of com¬ munication between it and the cap¬ ital. It is a stop for nearly all Balti¬ more and Ohio trains between Wash¬ ington and Baltimore. Laurel is the terminus of the trolley line which passes through Eckington, Hyattsville, Riverdale, College Park, Lakeland. Ber- wyn, Branchville. Beltsville and MuirkirV. Cars marked "Treasury" run from the ste.-ip slope which leads down to the Patuxent river. The Washington- Baltimore boulevard passes through the center of Laurel. Standing i:i Laurel a man might throw a stone across the Patuxent .into Howard coun¬ ty, or by throwing a litt'.s to the east¬ ward he could cast the stone into Anne Arundel county. By following the main east and w«st street of Laurel, which is Main street, a walk of something between two and three miles would carry one over the boundary between Prince Georges and Montgomery counties. Main street Is lined on both sides for several squares with shops, but east and west pt the business district homes face that street. These homes, for the most part, are set back from the Street and Wave ample grounds around them. There are many handsome places in Laurel, and in the county nearby. All the larger Chris¬ tian denominations have churches there. There are two banks which serve the people in four counties for a number of miles around. Th^ere is a large flour mill in operation, and an¬ other of the industrial activities is a shirt factory. Once extensive cotton mills were op¬ erated at Laurel and the great stone mill buildings are thsre still and are maintained in a complete state of re¬ pair, but no machinery whirrB and throbs in them. That cotton manufac¬ turing was not found to be profitable on that part of the Patuxent is said ot to have been the fault of Laurel. , STREET VIEW, UTPKH MARLBORO.
Transcript of Evening star (Washington, D.C.).(Washington, DC) 1915-12 ...
Washington'sNeigHbors.PrinceGeorgesCounty,Md.REATER Number of Washington's Inhabitants Were Born in, Prince Georges CountyThan Any. Other County in the United States.Large Part of the Capital's Food Also
Produced in Maryland County, Seventeen Miles of Which Abuts on the District of Colum¬bia.Principal Towns and Settlements, Soil Conditions, Minerals and Farm Products.Value of Big Tobacco Crop.'The Population and the Forests.Laurel and Upper Marlboro.
ST. MARY'S CHURCH, UPPER MARLBORO.
The district of Columbiafor seventeen miles abuts on
the Maryland county of PrinceGeorges. It is one of the parent
counties of the District and the coun¬
ty which grave the greatest area ofland to the District. The southerlyboundary of the District for its full
length of ten miles from Jones pointon the west shore of the Potomacriver to a point east of ChesapeakeJunction fronts 0:1 Prince Georgescounty, and the easterly boundary of
the District for. seven miles from the
east angle of the District near Chesa¬
peake junction to a point between the
81igo Mills road and Takoma alsofronts on Prince Georges county. Theelection district® of Prince Georgeswhich adjoin the District of Columbiaare Oxon, Spauldings, Seat Pleasant,
Bladensburg and Chillum. The east
angle of the District projects into SeatPleasant district, so that that civil sub¬
division of the county abuts for near¬
ly two and a half miles on the south¬erly and for a mile and a half on
the easterly side of the District. Chil¬
lum and Bladensburg districts join the
easterly side of the District of Co¬
lumbia, and Oxon and Spauldings the
southerly boundary.It is probably true that a greater
number of the inhabitants of Wash¬ington were born in Prince Georgescounty than in any other county in theUnited States, and a very large per¬centage of native-born Washingtoniansare descended from Prince Georgesfamilies. A considerable portion ofWashington's industrial populationsleeps in Prince Georges county and a
large part of the food which sustainsWashington is produced in that county.
** *
The northerly aud eastern boundary<*f Prince Georges county is the Pa--
tuxent river. The county line followsthe windings of that river from a pointthree miles northwest of Laurel to the
point where Swanson creek flows into
the Patuxent. The length of that line
is approximately forty-five miles. Alongtwo-thirds of this distance the Patux¬
ent is a picturesque stream, but alongthe lower third of the county the Pa¬tuxent is a majestic river, ranging inwidth from half a mile to two miles.The mouth of Swanson creek is half a
mile wide, and if one measures fromChalk point, on the north side, to Point
Judith, on the south side, it is a mile.The county adjoining Prince Georges
on the north is Howard. The adjoin¬ing county on the east is Anne Arundeland o/i the southea'st is Calvert county.The south boundary of the county ex¬
tends in an irregular course from thePatuxent to the Potomac and the ap¬proximate length of this line is thirty-five miles. Beginning in the middle ofthe Patuxent river, off the mouth ofSwanson creek, it follows that creekwesterly for four miles, turns northfor f<x»r miles, then travels westward lyin a line for about six miles to thehead of Mattawoman creek, and fol¬lows that creek westwardly for abouttwelve miles, and then leaving thecreek at a point two miles northwestOf Benville Corners, strikes north, withan inclination toward the west, aridreaches the Potomac river a trifle overhalf a rhil** below the noverumerit fit>hhatchery station at Bryans point. Theline crosses the Potomac river, a milewide, and ends on the Virginia shoreclose to Mount Vernon, about mid way-bet wee th< landing and Little Hunt¬ing creek. The county line then followsthe west shor«- of the Potomac toJones point, below * Alexandria, abouteight milfH. The county adjoiningPrince Georges on th*- south is Charles.The northwest boundary of Prince
Georges runs in a line from the dis¬trict of Columbia, near Takoma, to theupper Patuxent river, about thirteenmile*, and the county on the other sideof the line is Montgomery. The ap¬proximate land area of Prince Georgescounty is 4SI' .square miles.The county seat is Upper Marlboro,
fourteen miles southeast of the <'apitolbuilding, in an air line, but consider-
ably farther by wagon road. Theprincipal towns and settlements in thecounty are Laurel, Hyattsville, River-dale. Mount Rainier, Qollege Park,Berwyn, Branchville, Beltsville. Lake¬land, Muirkirk, Tuxedo, Magruder,Landover, Ardwick, Seabrook, Glenn-?dale, Springfield, Bowie, Brentwood,Bladensburg, Collington, Mullikin,Hall, Leeland, Croom, Nottingham,Aquasco, Horsehead, Cedarville, Baden,Brandywine, Cheltenham, Talbert,Rosaryville, Suitland, Silver Hill,Camp Springs, Clinton, T. B., Oxon Hill,
for a rural county, and the rate, it isbelieved, has been maintained since thelast enumeration. The population ofthe civil subdivisions of the county in1910 were: Vanceville district, 2,628;Bladensburg district, including thetown of Bladensburg, 2,083; Marlborodistrict, including the town of UpperMarlboro, 1,593: Nottingham, 1,606;Piscataway district, including the vil¬lage of Piscataway, 2,421; Spauldingdistrict, 2,192; Queen Anne, 1,812;Aquasco district, 1,190; Surratts. 1,138;Laurel, including the town of Laurel,2,978; Brandywine, 1,427; Oxon Hill,'1,480; Kent, 1.446; Bowie, 1,963; Meli-wood, 1,581; Hyattsville district, in¬cluding the town of Hyattsville, 2,772;Chillum district, including MountRainier and part of Takorna Park,3,168, and Seat Pleasant, 2,660.The most populous town in Prince
Georges county is Laurel, with 2,415inhabitants; next in population isHyattsville, with 1,917, and then fol¬lows Mount Rainier, with 1,242 inhabi¬tants. These are the figures of the lastnational census, and there has beena substantial increase during the pastfive years. Upper Marlboro, the countyseat, is a village of 361 inhabitants;Bladensburg has ?. population of 460.and the village of Piscataway, one ofthe oldest settlements in the UnitedStates, and in colonial days a place ofconsiderable size arid commercial im¬portance, has a population of seventy-five.The white population of Prince
Georges county has shown a strong in¬crease, while the colored population hasremained nearly stationary. The num¬ber of whites in 1S90 was 14,827; col¬ored, 11,210; 1900, white population,17,910: colored. 11,985; 1910, white, 24,-463; colored, 11,493. A large part ofthe population increase of PrinceGeorges county has been in the terri¬tory adjacent to the District of Co¬lumbia.
?* *
In Prince Georges county the nativewhites of native parentage numbered21,206; the native whites of foreign or
mixed parentage, 2,228; foreign-bornwhites amounted to 1,209. Of the for¬eign nationalities represented in thecounty Germany led with 445. Englandwas next with 201. Russia was thirdwith 94, Ireland had 90, Canada, 77; Aus-
of farm, with less than three acres ofland.The census value of all farm property
in the county in 1910 was $13,063,674,an increase of 40 per cent in the period1900-1910. The value of the land wasset down at $7,871,497, an averagevalue, $32.79 per acre, an increase of$11 an acre during the preceding tenyears. The value of the farm buildingsof the county was set down at $3,607,-187: the value of implements and ma¬chinery, $488,626, and the value ofdomestic animals, poultry and bees, $1,-692,856.On the farms of the county were more
than 8,000 head of cattle, considerablymore than half of that number beingdairy cows, and the value of theseherds was approximately a quarter ofa million dollars. There were 6,700horses, valued at $642,000; 449 mules,worth $53,000; 10,000 swine, worth $58,-000, and more than 9,000 sheep, worthover $200,000.
** *
In Prince Georges county were pro¬duced 950,000 gallons of milk, of whichabout one-third was sold; 5,000 gallonsof cream, 176,000 pounds of butter, 6,000pounds of cheese, and the value ofthese dairy products, excluding thehome use of milk and cream, was $142,-000. The census reported that the poul¬try raised in Prince Georges countynumbered 177,000, that 461,000 dozeneggs were produced, and that the valueof the poultry and eggs produced was
$189,000.The total value of all Prince Georges
crops was $1,781,000. The county pro¬duced 720,000 bushels of corn, 12,000bushels of oats, 55,000 bushels of wheat,7,000 bushels of rye. 10,000 tons of hayand forage, 275,000 bushels of potatoes,110,000 bushels of sweet potatoes and3,542.000 pounds of tobacco.Prince Georges is one of the tobacco
counties of the state, 6,252 acres havingbeen planted in that crop in the lastcensus year. The acreage in tobaccoin St. Marys county was 5,000. yet thatcounty produced half a million poundsmore tobacco than Prince Georges.Charles county, another of the tobacco
STREET VIEW IN LAUREL.
New Glatz, Friendly, Piscataway, Ac-cokeek, Farmington, Chesapeake Junc¬tion and Seat Pleasant.
** *
The main streams of the countywhich find their way into the Easternbranch are Northwest branch, Paintand Little Paint branches, Indiancreek, Beaverdam creek*1 and "Beaver-dam branch. The main streams .flow¬ing into the Potomac are Oxon run,Henson creek and Broad creek, Swancreek. Tinkers creek arid Piscatawaycreek. The streams flowing into thePatuxent are Walker, Crows, Bearand Horsepen branches. New Stepbranch and Wimms branch, Collington,Bald Hill, Folly, Lottsford, Southwest,Northwest and Western branches. Fed¬eral Spring branch, Charles branch,Mattaponi creek. Hick creek. BlackSwamp creek ami Stanley run. Thou¬sands of small branches make a closenetwork over the face of the county.Prince Georges county is traversed
by the Baltimore and Ohio railroad,the Pennsylvania, the Washington,Baltimore and Annapolis electric rail¬road, the Chesapeake Beach railroad,the Popes Creek branch of the Penn¬sylvania. the Southern Maryland.a lit¬tle railroad running south fromBrandywine.and various suburbantrolley lines, one running as far asLaurel. There has long been felt theneed of electric- lines of communica¬tion between Washington and thatpart of Prince Georges which lies southof the I>istrict of Columbia and be¬tween the Potomac and the Potomac-Patuxeut watershed.The population of Prince. Georges
county. according to the census of 1910,was 36,147. In 1900 it was'29,898, andin 1890 it was 26,080, showing a verysatisfactory decennial rate of growth
tria, 63: Italy, 50; Scotland, 50; Switzer¬land, 30, and there was a small scat¬tering of Swedes, Dutch, Norwegians,Hungarians, Greeks, French and Danes.Of the white inhabitants of the
county the males numbered 12,893, andthe females, 11,750; among the coloredthe males numbered 5,002, and the fe¬
males, 5,491. The males of voting agenumbered 9,966. The number of maleilliterates of voting age in 1910 was
1,331, or 13.4 per cent, a decrease from24.3 per cent in 1900. The number ofnative white illiterates was set downas 304, and the number of negro il¬literates was 1,015.The number of children in the county
between the ages of 6 and 9 years, in¬clusive, .was 3,553, and the number inattendance at school was 2,372; thenumber of children, 10 to 14 years old,was 4,159. and the number attendingschool, 3,621. Between the ages of 6and 14 the percentage of native whitesof native parents attending school was
84.5; the percentage of native whites offoreign or mixed parentage was 88.5,and the percentage for the coloredpopulation was 65.7. The number ofdwellings in the county was 7,232, andthe number of families, 7,368.The approximate land area of Prince
Georges county is 308,480 acres; theland included in farms is 240,036 acres;the improved land in farms, 154,414;woodland in farms, 77,391, and otherunimproved lands in farms, 8,231 acres.The number of farms in the county in1910 was 2,288, against 2,374 in 1900.There were five farms containing 1,000acres or over; thirty-seven containingbetween 500 and 999 at'res; 108 contain¬ing from 260 to 499 acres: 211 of be¬tween 175 and 259 acres; 425.containingbetween 100 and 174 acres; 356 from 50to 99 acres: 454 of between 20 and 49acres; 300 between 10 and 19 acres; 289between 3 and 9 acres, and thirteentracts answering the census definition
IN TUB BUMpi SECTION OK UlfUEb
in Prince Georges county, and the lfstshould be interesting not only to per¬sons with a geological bent but thestudent farmers. The table of PrinceGeorges soil types with the area setforth in round figures follows: Leon-ardtown loam, 45,000 acres; Susque¬hanna gravel, 41.000; Windsor sand,37,000; Westphalia sand, 36.000;Meadow, 30,000; Norfolk sand, 23,000;Colllngton sandy loam, 23,000; Susque¬hanna clay, 22,000; Norfolk loam, 9,000;Sassafras loam, 9,000; Sassafras sandyloam, 5,000; Leonardtown gravellyloam, 4,000; Elkton clay, 1,500; Cecilmica loam, 600.
** *
The Leonardtown loam area reachesthe boundary of the District and isfamiliar to Washington people whoobserve such things. The soil consistsof a yellow silty loam, having an aver¬
age depth of ten inches and is under¬lain by a heavter yellow loam whichusually grades into a mottled loam ata depth of twenty-eight to thirty-twoinches. At that depth the soil becomesbrittle and crumbly and consists of
thin layers of clayey loam separatedfrom one another by thin seams or
pockets of sand. The whole area ofthe Leonardtown loam is underlain at
varying depths by a bed of coarse
gravel mingled with sand, whichreaches the surface along the marginof stream valleys. The Leonardtownloam "is one of the heaviest types ofsoil cultivated in Prince Georges coun¬
ty, and the soil experts say that it is
especially adapted to the production of
grass, wheat and corn where generalfarming is practiced and to cabbage,cucumbers and late strawberries in thetrucking area. Near Washington thistype of soil is found in the Fort Footeneighborhood, the Oxon Hill districtand in the highland south of Bryanspoint and Piscataway creek.A large area of Prince Georges coun¬
ty along the border of Montgomerycounty and the northern part of theDistrict is of a soil type known as
"Leonardtown gravelly loam." Where
soils where pine and oaks -will thrive. Most ofthis land was brought under cultivation prior to
1R60 for the growing of tobacco ami corn. T'nderthese exacting crops. however, much of tin* soilbecame exhausted and was allowed to grow upin brush. The change in industrial conditionsfollowing the civil war contributed largely to
the increase in the forest areas. In the westernsection of the county at least much more landhas reverted to forest during the past forty or
fifty years than has been cleared.The clearing up of the forests of the
county is now in process and largeacreages of land are being broughtback to the plow. The conifers ofPrince Georges county are scrub pine,pitch pine, short-leaf pine and redcedar. The common names of the hard¬woods of the county are: Butternut,black walnut, butternut hicJcory, mock-ernut hickory, pignut hickory, whitewillow, black willow, largetooth aspen,river birch, sweet birch, blue beech,beech, chinquapin, chestnut, white oak,post oak, overcup oak, chestnut oak,swamp white oak, cow oak. red oak,scarlet oak, black oak, Spanish oak, pinoak, black jack oak. shingle oak, wil¬low oak. slippery elm, white elm, hack-berry, red mulberry, sweet magnolia,yellow poplar, pawpaw, sassafras,witch hazel, red gum, sycamore, serv¬ice berry, scarlet haw, Washingtonhaw, black cherry, red bud. 'locust,holly, silver maple, red maple, bass-wood, dogwood, black gum, persimmon,black ash, white ash, red ash andnannyberry which learned Washing-tonians better know as viburnumprunifolium or plum-leaf viburnum.
** *
The present annual cut of timber isabout the annual rate of growth andthe figuresjfor 1907, the latest at handat the moment, show that the coyntycut was about 4.000,000 feet boardmeasure, about 75 per cent of whichwas used in the county. Ttoe annualcut of cordwood in the county forshipment outside the county is about1.400 cords, about 1,000 cords of pineand 400 cords of oak, all of which findsits market either in Washington or
Baltimore. Scrub pine, yellow poplarand red gum are being cut for pulp-wood at the rate of about 3,000 cordsa year. There is a limited output ofrailroad ti^s (which at one time was a
COURTHOUSE OP PRINCE GEORGES COUNTY.
counties, produced 3.439,0fi0 poundsfrom 4,831 acres. Calvert county pro-duped 3,367,000 pounds of tobacco fromo,194 acres, and Anne Arundel countygrew 2,561,000 pounds on 3,883 acres ofland.
** ^
Prince Georges county had 138,000fruit trees and produced 63.000 bushelsof orchard fruits, 52,000 bushels of ap¬ples, 2,000 bushels of peaches, 6,500bushels of peafrs, 1,300 bushels of cher¬ries. 225.000 pounds of grapes, 690,000quarts of strawberries. 50,000 quarts ofraspberries and 62,000 quarts of black¬berries.The magnitude of.the tpbaccp crop of
Prince Georges county can be under¬stood by reference to the facts thatwhile the production of the whole statein 1909 was 17,845,699 pounds from 26,-000 acres of land, the production inPrince Georges county was more than3,500,000 pounds. For the state ofMaryland during the period 1900-1910the greatest percentages of increase inacres were reported for barley, pota¬toes. rye and buckwheat, and decreaseswere recorded in tobacco, wheat andcorn, and slight increases in oats, hayand forage.There has been within the memory of
men living a great reduction in the to¬bacco area and production of PrinceGeorges county. Once nearly all theavailable land was in tobacco, withcorn the second crop in importance.Farming has been considerably diver¬sified.The growing of vegetables has be¬
come an important industry in thecounty, and the value of the vegetablecrop in the last census year was ap¬proximately $650,000. Soil areas ofwide extent suitable for the cultivationof vegetables exist in Prince Georgescounty and the trucking industry hasbeen very largely developed for thesupply of the Washington markets.In connection with the agricultural
resources of Prince Georges county itis. of course, interesting to considerthe soils of the county, and any personwho is inclined to follow this line ofstudy at length should consult thewritings of Jay A. Bonsteel, which havebeen published for the Maryland geo¬logical survey by the Johns Hopkinspress. In dealing with Prince Georgescounty Mr. Bonsteel says:The relationship between the geology ami the
*oil» of any given area constitutes an importantphase of tbe agricultural investigation of tin;region, and the influence exerted hy the geologyon the soils is of great importance in the tlien-ret ieal consideration of the origiu of the soilsund of practical importance in determining thearea, the characteristics and the resources ofeach particular soil type.
*
** *
Prince Georges county lies within thecoastal plain region of the state,though its extreme northern boundaryslightly overlaps upon the Piedmontplateau. Only a single soil type of thecounty, the Cecil mica loam, is derivedfrom the crystalline rocks of the latterregion; all the other soils of the coun¬
ty are derived from the unconsolidatedsediments belonging to the MesozoicaniT Cenozoic portions of the geologicalcolumn. The Maryland geological sur¬vey has prepared a table showinx thearea of the several soil Jypes oceuring
the original plant growth from thissoil has been removed it shows a sec¬ond growth of oak and pine in aboutequal quantities. The soil studentssay that this soil is intermediate be¬tween the heavy grain-producing andthe light tobacco and truck soils.' It isa fair corn land and produces goodyields of peas, tomatoes, sugar cornand similar crops.Cecil mica loam is a residual soil
which is found in the extreme northernpart of Prince Georges county andover considerable areas in the Districtof Columbia- It is found along thesteeper streams, where overlying sedi¬mentary materials have been removedby erosion. It is a friable .yellow loam,containing considerable amounts ofmica in small flakes. In dry weatherit is loose and appears to be almostsandy, but in' wet weather, because ofthe mica scales, it feels slippery. Thesassafras loam type is one of the high¬ly esteemed soil types of PrinceGeorges county for general farming,and the Norfolk loam type, which isfound in the "Forests of Prince George"and along the upland of the Patuxentriver, is one of the most esteemed soilsfor the production of tobacco. Thesoil question is a big and somewhat in¬tricate question, and many differenttypes of soil are found in the same
neighborhood.In a report of the Maryland geolog¬
ical survey is this reference to thePrince Georges market gardens, whichhelp supply Washington;At the present time the land holdings of Prinee
Georges county vary in size from 100 and 200acres up to a thousand acres and more in a
single tract. The larger farms are worked underthe tenant system, the tenants making pay*ment either in cash or in farm products undervarving conditions of contract. Near tbeboundary of the District of Columbia many ofthe larger farms have been subdivided into smallparcels and sold to |»ersous desirous of engagingin market gardening. 1'pon these small tractsare produced radishes, lettuce, tomatoes, cucum¬
bers. melons, green peas, sugar corn and berrieswhich are transported to Washington by teamand there either sold from market stalls or
peddled from house to house. Upon thesema diet, garden farms an intensive system ofcultivation has been practiced in order to pro¬duce a steady supply of the various crops inseason.
*
It may be news to most of the peopleof .Washington that the forests ofPrince George county are one of themain sources of wealth to tTie county,the*' value of the woodland productsbeing second only to the farm products.The woodlands of the county cover
127,200 acres, or 41 per cent of thearea of the county. F. W. Besley ofthe state board of forestry has writtenan interesting report on the forests ofPrince Georges county, and the follow¬ing is an extract from a chapter on"The Distribution of the Forests":In the early history of the county the forests
constituted by far the larger part of the landarea. Owing to the demand for tillable landthe forests were rapidly reduced, until practicallyall of the arable land was cleared for growingcrops. Naturally, aloug the Patuxent river(where tbe tide of immigration first set in) thegreatest inroads were made on the forest area,until this section known iu the early settlementdays as "the Forests -of Prince Georges" hasnow the smallest percentage of forest land ofany part of the county. For the last twentvyears there has been little change. The landthat was cleared prior to that time is beingcultivated and the chances an* that there winbe* little change in the woodland area for along time to come. In the western part of tbecounty the conditions arc quite different. Thesoils of tills section are more diversified and onthe whole less adaptable to the growing ofagricultural crops. There are large nreas ofpoorly drained land, also sterile clay and asud
ONE OF THE OLD BlILDINGS I* UPPER MARLBORO.
their report on the physical featuresof Maryland, have said that the ironindustry in Maryland was developedearly in colonial days and continueduntil a recent date to be one of themost impbrtant factors in the pros¬perity of the state.The Principio company erected a
furnace in Cecil county, at the mouthof Principio creek, in 1722. In 1761the Governor and council of Marylandreported to the commission of theboard of trade and plantations in Eng¬land that there were eighteen furnacesand ten forges in the state, whichmade 2,500 tons of pig iron per year.The Muirkirk furnace. in PrinceGeorges county between Washiirgton
most important industry), telegraphand telephone poles, piles and fencingmaterial.
* \- * #
For a long period timber buyers havesought choice timber for export, andthis trade is still going on, high pricesbeing paid for excellent specimens ofblack walnut, hickory, poplar, oak andash. The Maryland board of forestryhas reported that "an estimate of thetotal annual wood and timber cut. ofthe county, based on the most reliabledata obtainable, indicates an equiva¬lent of 20,000,000 board feet if fire¬wood be included." According to theboard, "the main causes responsiblefor the present poor condition of theforests are tires, browsing of animalsand destructive methods of cutting."Prince Georges county is not rich in
mineral resources. The clays consti¬tute the most valuable mineral depositsin the county. Benjamin I. Miller, on
the "Mineral Resources of Prince.Georges .County," says: ".These argil¬laceous beds are rather generally dis¬tributed throughout the .county, but,so far as known, they have in recentyears been worked only in the vicinityof Washington, and clays are foundthat are suitable for the manufactureof common brick, fire brick, terra cotta,sewer piper, pottery and the variousforms or refractory ware. It is esti¬mated that the clays of the Potomacgroup are the most valuable in thecounty."Iron has been mined anil manufac¬
tured in Maryland since early colonialdays and in Prince Georges county fora number of generations. WilliamBullock Clark and Edward B. Matthewsof the Maryland geological survey, in
and Laurel, has been in almost con¬tinuous operation since 1847, and thepig iron which is produced at Muir-kirk is noted for its tensile strengthand commands a price above the aver¬
age for pig iron. The ore which ismined close around the furnace isprimarily an iron carbonate ore. thoughmuch of it has been altered to limo-nite, or hematite near the surface.The oxidized ore is commonly called"brown ore," while the carbonate oreis called "white ore." The carbonateiron of Prince Georges county hasbeen used to a considerable extetit bythe United States government, it beingguaranteed to stand 30,000 to thesquare inch in the pig. and many testshave shown it to stand 40,000 pounds.
** ?
Mineral paint has been produced sinceIndian times in Prince Georges county,and one of the streams near Washing¬ton entering the Eastern branch iscalled Paint branch, because of thepresence of this, mineral paint. Thebuilding sands and gravels of PrinceGeorges county &re largely employedin Washington. The industry is an
important one, and will become largeras the city grows and the sand 4indgravel pits of the District are ex¬
hausted. In the eastern part of theDistrict of Columbia, particularly be¬yond the Eastern branch, there arenumerous grave'l ^>its which geologistssay belong to the Sunderland and La¬fayette formation, and that elsewherein the vicinity of Washington there aresmall pits in deposits of Wicomico andTalbot age.The marls of Prince Georges county
have been closely studied, and havebeen used as fertilizer for centuries.r
There are still great deposits of marlsin the county.A Rood many years ago Prince
Georges county had the oil and nat¬ural gas fever. Although everybodywho went into the oil and gas busi¬ness in the county lost money, yetsmall amounts of gas and oil havebeen observed in some places duringthe sinking of wells and in the vicin¬ity of streams where there is seepagefrom porous beds. Borings were madeone mile south of Meadows, in PrinceGeorges county, and although a depthof 1.511 feet was reached and thecrystalline rocks probably struck, only"traces of oil and gas were found.Geologists have written that It is notprobable that either petroleum or nat¬ural gas in paying quantities will befound within the limits of the county-The county town. Upper Marlboro, isnot a busy place except on certaincourt days, and tourists may find thrill"there if they happen to be interested inthe early history of th.® state and.coun-ty. Many tourists go there by "auto¬mobile from Washington. The mainroad between Washington and Marl¬boro has been vastly improved withinthe last year or two and automobilesmake the trip in much less time thanthe village can he reached by trainstravelintr on their usual schedule. ThePope's Creek branch of the Pennsyl¬vania railroad from Bowie, on the mainline, to Pope's creek, on ths Potomacriver, has a station called Upper Marl,boro about one mile northeast of thecourt souare of the village, aiid theChesapeake Beach railroad, runninefrom the. District line at the east cor¬ner of the District to the bay, has astation about half a mi\e west of thc-court square. Marlboro is built mainlyaround the courthouse and in that dis¬trict are the hotels, the bank, the of¬fices of lawyers and physicians, the of¬fices of the two weekly newspapers,and close by are two fine old churches.St. Mary's (Catholic) and Trinity(Episcopal). Marlboro stands clos/»upon Western branch, a stream whichhas scoured a deep gorge through thf*sandy soil of ti e region and whichfalls into the Patuxent river aboutthree miles southeast of Marlboro.
#ik *
Laurel, which is the largest town inthe county, and li.3s at the nortlieantboundary, is to quite a degree a sub¬urb of Washington. It bears th-is char¬acter, and is increasing its suburbanrelation because of the ease of com¬munication between it and the cap¬ital. It is a stop for nearly all Balti¬more and Ohio trains between Wash¬ington and Baltimore. Laurel is theterminus of the trolley line whichpasses through Eckington, Hyattsville,Riverdale, College Park, Lakeland. Ber-wyn, Branchville. Beltsville and MuirkirV.Cars marked "Treasury" run from theste.-ip slope which leads down tothe Patuxent river. The Washington-Baltimore boulevard passes throughthe center of Laurel. Standing i:iLaurel a man might throw a stoneacross the Patuxent .into Howard coun¬ty, or by throwing a litt'.s to the east¬ward he could cast the stone into AnneArundel county.By following the main east and w«st
street of Laurel, which is Main street,a walk of something between two andthree miles would carry one over theboundary between Prince Georges andMontgomery counties. Main street Islined on both sides for several squareswith shops, but east and west pt thebusiness district homes face that street.These homes, for the most part, are setback from the Street and Wave amplegrounds around them. There are manyhandsome places in Laurel, and in thecounty nearby. All the larger Chris¬tian denominations have churchesthere. There are two banks whichserve the people in four counties for anumber of miles around. Th^ere is alarge flour mill in operation, and an¬other of the industrial activities is ashirt factory.Once extensive cotton mills were op¬
erated at Laurel and the great stonemill buildings are thsre still and aremaintained in a complete state of re¬pair, but no machinery whirrB andthrobs in them. That cotton manufac¬turing was not found to be profitableon that part of the Patuxent is saidot to have been the fault of Laurel.
, STREET VIEW, UTPKH MARLBORO.
