Evening star., 1919-11-30

y ,
counties Of Montgomery and
Prince Georges passes through
stretch of woodland In which stood
Paint Pranch Chapel, n pioneer and
plain. little Episcopal fame whose
foundation was laid by serious and
pious men a century before the cor
ner stones were set in most of tho
splendid and tall-splred churches of
Washington. 1t is very likely that
when men went to worship in Paint
Branch Chapel there were gray
wolves In that tree-grown section
which Is now called Paint Chapel
woods II bear. wildcat, beaver and
puma had not then passed out OF the
forests Just north of the city. they
had not long been gone. In the mat
ter of mammals in the Washington
region the Rambler, reading a bull
Ietin of tho Biological Society or
Washington containing a sketch OF
the Natural History of the District OF
Columbia" by w. l.. McAtee, finds
the following:
."The mammals that NAL ain existence in
thickly populated areas are small, inconspic-
nous and elusive. The larger forms that are
compelled to live more or less In the open dis
appear. Among those which have inhabited
the vicinity Of the District OF Columbia within
historic times, but which are now locally ex.
tirpated, are buffalo. elk, whitetailed deer.
wilde puma. gray wolf black bear. pine
niarten, beaver and black rat. The last named
species was introduced from the old world. but
disappeared before It's later imported congener
and rival. tho brown rat Buffalo disap-
peared from Virginia and therefore from this
vicinity soon after the establishment OF the
first permanent settlements, but gray wolves
wers present and destructive as late as l72s.
This = proved by the fact that in that year
law vas passed placing 4 bounty Of 200 pounds
Of tobacco upon each wolf scalp. Elk persist
Cd in Virginia until 1874.
The country drained by Big Paint
branch. Little Paint branch, Long
branch. Sligo. Northwest branch and
Rock creek must have been mag
nificent forest region 200 years ago.
and today the Paint branch region is
the most -"woodly" region in the
neighborhood of Washington 1t
seems that even today ono finds
primeval forest in that section,
though the ak and sawmill have
reaped nearly all the trees of great
size and age, but there are wide
are. as of woodland that seem never
to have been cleared. II one may
Judge from the character Of the vege-
tation and the depth Of the forest
mould.
In the woods along the Paint
branches and on the slopes and tops
Of the high hills above them may
be found nearly all the trees that are
native to this section. Among the
conifers are pitch pine. short-leaf
pine, scrub pine and red cedar, and
among the hardwoods are butternut,
black walnut, butternut hickory,
mockernut hickory. pignut hickory,
white willow. black willow, large
tooth aspen. river birch. sweet birch,
blue beech, beech. chinquapin. chest
nut. white oak. post oak. overcup. oak,
chestnut oak. swamp white oak. cow
oak. scarlet oak, black oak, Spanish
oak, pin oak, black jack oak, shingle
oak. willow oak, slippery elm. white
elm, blackberry, red mulberry. sweet
magnolia, yellow poplar. paWpaw, sas-
safras, witchhazel. red gum. sycamore,
service berry, scarlet haw, Washing
ton haw. black cherry. red-bud To-
Gust. holly, silver maple. red maple,
basswood. dogwood, black gum. per-
simmon, black ash. white ash. red ash
and "nannyberry," or viburnum pru-
nifolium. a tree with cyme Of sweet
smelling white flowers In the spring.
In report on the forests Of Prince
Georges county. written by +. w.
Besley. and published by the Mary
land geological survey in 1911, oc-
ours this:
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 arabic land was
nlong the Patuxcnt river where the tide Of
immigration first set In, the greatest In
roads were made on the forested area, until
this section, known in the e'ry settlement
days as the Forests Of Prince George" has
now the smallest percentage Of forest lnnn
of any part OF the county. For the last
twenty years there has been little change.
The land that was cleared prior to that time
IS being cultivated and the chances are that
there will be little change In the wooded
area for a long time to come. In the western
part Of the county the conditions are quite
different. The soils Of this section are more