274 AMERICAN FORESTRY 



7,750,000 acres more or less had been burned over in the United States. In 

 the number of fires, the principal states in their order of importance, were 

 as follows: 



Pennsylvania 381 



Michigan 267 



North Carolina 221 



Ohio 192 



Massachusetts 159 



Wisconsin 108 



Kentucky 106 



New York 102 



In the total area of forest burned over, the list is as follows in the order 

 of importance: 



Tennessee 985,000 acres 



Missouri 785.000 acres 



Georgia 705,000 acres 



Pennsylvania . .f5S5,000 acres 



Alabama 570,000 acres 



Kentucky 557,500 acres 



North Carolina 545,000 acres 



Wisconsin 405,000 acres 



Michigan 237,000 acres 



New York 150,000 acres 



Massachusetts 14,000 acres 



The figures give no conclusion with regard to the extent of the individual 

 fires and the value of the property destroyed, but it can be deduced from the 

 above that the average extent of the fires was: 



Massachusetts 88 acres 



Michigan 890 acres 



New York 1,470 acres 



Pennsylvania 1,800 acres 



Wisconsin 3,750 acres 



Alabama 7,920 acres 



Missouri 8,090 acres 



Georgia 13,050 acres 



Tennessee 13,490 acres 



From the above, it will be seen that there is a wide difference in the extent 

 of the fires in the different states, and that there is a certain connection 

 between this figure and the condition of culture of the state, showing that in 

 the highly cultivated northern states, people have already learned better 

 how to police the forests and keep fires under control than in the southern 

 states, with their meager population and large negro element. The high figure 

 for Missouri is to be accounted for by the climate, which is a notably drier 

 one and more favorable for the spi-eading of fires than that of Massachusetts 

 or New York. In general, it goes without saying that great confiuence cannot 

 be placed in the statistics of a single year, even if the reports were complete. 



With respect to the causes of fires, an indisputable conclusion is drawn 

 from Walker's investigation that sparks from locomotives are to blame in a 

 a great number of cases. Out of the 2,580 fires of the year 1880, no less than 

 505, or 191/2, per cent are laid to this cause. The individual states give the 

 following percentage: 



