THE PATAPSCO 



grew in size until, in 1 900, their present property, situated on the Washing- 

 ton Road, some two miles out of the town of Elkridge, was secured. During 

 the past eight years, the growth has been gradual but steady, and now there 

 is a comfortable clubhouse, Hunt stabling for fourteen horses, a cottage for 

 the kennel huntsman and excellent kennels, where the twenty couples of 

 American hounds of which the pack consists are lodged. 



Mr. Dorsey M. Williams was elected M. F. H. on the organization of 

 the Hunt and has held that office ever since. Being a large landowner and 

 farmer himself, the Master is in close sympathy and touch with the land- 

 owners of the county, and the result is that there is not a farm on which 

 hounds are not welcome during the hunting season. Like many other Hunts 

 in the south, the Patapsco enjoys the great advantage of being situated in a 

 country where the inhabitants have been fox-hunters since early colonial 

 days. Hence it is not strange that many of the farmers should belong to 

 the Hunt and attend the meets in the neighborhood whenever they can spare 

 time and a mount. 



The Master is thus relieved from the necessity of educating them, as 

 many of his northern confreres are obliged to do, and is assisted in the pres- 

 ervation of the foxes themselves ; a distinct advantage in two important es- 

 sentials to the sport. It follows that foxes are plentiful, and the Patapsco 

 hounds have few blank days. 



The country is what is usually known as rolling, and although along the 

 Patapsco River the going is pretty rough, most of it is over a good, grazing 

 country. The coverts are large as a rule, but usually intersected by numer- 

 ous rides, so that when a fox breaks, one is enabled to reach the open 

 quickly. The mid-county farmers engage largely in cattle-grazing, and in 

 consequence the fencing, — which is of every known variety, except stone 

 walls, — is strong and high and requires a good bit of doing. A story is told 

 by one of the Patapsco men, that a stranger coming into the country to 

 hunt once was heard to remark after a day's sport, that the farmers of 

 Howard County must " build their fences to stop eagles I " 



The lower part of the county has a sandy soil and affords good going in 

 mid-wanter, when all other portions of the country are frozen solid; but the 



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