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.