78 Fourth Annual Report of the 



no fires occurred during the hunting season of 1913, while it 

 was very dangerous this year. The fact is clear that those who 

 use the woods must exercise greater care or there will neces- 

 sarily be some drastic action by property owners, which will 

 curtail the privileges now enjoyed by hunters and others on lands 

 which they do not own. 



If we combine the fires caused bv the fishermen, hunters and 

 campers, we find that they constitute 41 per cent, of all the fires. 

 These figures do not include any smokers' fires, a proportion of 

 which were caused by these sportsmen. If we charge a reason- 

 able proportion of the smokers' fires to these people, we conclude 

 that sportsmen were the cause of 50 per cent, of the total number 

 of fires. A computation on this basis shows that these agencies 

 burned 44 per cent, of the area and caused 57 per cent, of the 

 total loss. This is a severe arraignment of the sportsmen of the 

 State, but it seems to be true. As a class, they have unanimously 

 agreed upon the policy of forest protection, but such a policy to 

 succeed must have the individual assistance of the users of the 

 woods. Forest fires mean destruction not only of the tree growth, 

 but of the cover which is the home of their game and the regu- 

 lator of their water supply, which means so much to fish life. 

 Destroy the forests, and extinction of fish and game follow^s. 



It is a pleasure to note the rapid progress made in reduction 

 of railroad fires. The railroad fires were but 12 per cent, of the 

 total and of these only two exceeded ten acres in extent. This 

 result has been brought about by removing the cause. The 

 " rights of way " have been cleared and a large proportion of 

 the engines have been so equipped that sparks are less liable to 

 escape. The results have been made possible only by the hearty 

 co-operation of the railroad officials having these matters in charge. 



Our force of inspectors has been active; and as a result, 6,995 

 miles or 84 per cent, of the entire "rights of way" of the sixty 

 railroads have been inspected, and 6,300 of the 6,866 locomotives 

 operating, or 92 per cent., have been examined, besides 782 re- 

 inspections made. A marked improvement on nearly all railroad 

 lines has been found. As a matter of comparison, in one district 

 in 1913 out of a total of 1,000 engines 40. per cent, were found 

 defective on first inspection, while in 1914 only 17 per cent. 



