Evening star., 1939-03-27


bird house windows and skylights
were thrown open.
Hundreds of visitors reclined on
the fresh, carpet-like lawn in front
OF the new pachyderm house dur
ing the day.
The Tidal Basin was lined with
visitors who got peek at the first
buds bursting on the Japanese
cherry trees. Officials preparing for
the Cherry Blossom Festival Friday
predicted that the trees would be
in full bloom by Wednesday. Curtis
Hodges of the Greater National
Capital Committee estimated that
more than half a million persons
will flock to Washington during the
cherry blossom Easter season.
The unusual warmth of the week
end advanced the cherry blossoms
to the point that they became
about one-third full overnight, C.
Marshall Finnan, superintendent of
National Capital parks, announced
today. He said the ''break' in
weather conditions should have the
blooms at their beauty peak for the
festival
Thousands of flower lovers f1ocked
to special exhibitions at the Agri-
culture Department greenhouses and
Botanic Gardens The amaryllis
show at the former drew 5,593
visitors, who saw a new orchid
like deep red bloom-Strekelia For
mosissima-for the first time.
Many See Azaleas.
The all-spring-floWers exhibition
at the Gardens, described by Di-
rector William A. Frederick as the
largest flower show ever held in
Washington, was seen by 1874
visitors, who were impressed with
the famous Rutherford collections
of azaleas. This show will continue
for several weeks. while the amaryl-
lis display will remain open daily
until next Sunday night
Public and private golf courses
were jammed all day, with many Of
the games enthusiasts donning
summer shorts for their rounds.
Bride paths were crowded and
bicycle rental agencies in the East
and West Potomac Park areas re-
ported sellout business. Scores of
sailboats were seen on the Potomac.
Metropolitan police, who had
busy day with traffic. donned sum-
mer blouses on special orders and
were told to put their topcoats in
~ h hho11S q 1oocf
being. District firemen had their
problems, too, answering more than
80 brush-fire alarms during the day.
Thousands of District residents
jammed nearby Maryland and Vir-
glnla highways for automobile drives
in the country. Many motorists.
however, experienced unexpected
discomfort when they were forced
to drive through dense smoke bill
lowing across the highways from
brush fires.
On the Lee-Jackson highway, A
mile south of the Fairfax Court
house, traffic was halted altogether
for nearly three hours by flames
which spread over $50 acres and
leveled an unoccupied two-story
frame house owned by f. w. Long.
Fire Chief Robert Williams of
Fairfax said that blaze was only
one of more than a dozen which
kept his department on the run
from yesterday morning until late
last night.
Flames tapping along both sides
OF the road at Chain Bridge Hill
brought traffic to complete stop
there. Hundreds of motorists re-
turning to the District were forced
to turn about and complete their
afternoon drive by another route.
Homes Threatened.
Dozens of homes in Arlington and
Fairfax Counties were threatened
during the day. Fire spread over a
750-acre tract between the Falls
Church h-Annandale road and Lee
boulevard and was swept dangerous
ly near houses lining the two high
ways before Falls Church and Fair
fax fremen were able to bring it
under control.
Thirty acres of timber, owned by
John T. De Bell. chairman of the
Fairfax County School Board, were
burned at Centerville.
Brush fires were not confined 10
the nearby area. Virginia State For
ester F. C. Peterson reporting the
situation throughout the State as
"yery critical" because of drv vepe-
tation. In many sections of the
State c. C. C. enrollees were called
out to assist fire departments. One
blaze in Buckingham County raced
over 1900 acres before it was
brought under control, the Associ-
ated Press reported.
Montgomery Firemen Busy.
Volunteer departments in Mont
gomery County also were kept busy.
Rockville and Sandy Spring fire
fighters prevented a blaze from
reaching four homes at Nor
beck, Md.
Flames which broke out in a
wooded area near Accokeek. Md.
Saturday afternoon. swept over the
section between Livingston road and
Pennington road until last night
despite efforts of the OXon Hill and
Accokeek departments anG enrollees
from the C. c. c. camp at Cedarville
to bring it under control. The blaze
covered nearly two square miles.