268 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY. 



materials needed for local consumption and for export to neigh- 

 boring cities. We must consider, therefore, the following 

 conditions : 



(1) The ability of the State to afford protection to private 

 property. 



(2) The geographic position of the region in reference to 

 markets and in reference to means of transportation. 



(3) The value of land and the cost of labor. 



(4) The quantity and quality of the materials the region is 

 capable of producing. 



(5) The ability to use the materials in local industries. 



(6) Fair taxation. 



Let us consider, first, fire : 



This is the kernel of the whole question. Although no end 

 of legislation has been passed on the subject, nothing has been 

 accomplished. Not to mention forest management, the State 

 has failed up to the present time to protect the property of its 

 citizens. Until this is accomplished but little progress is possible. 



The " fire season " in New Jersey begins about the middle of 

 March, and continues with more or less fierceness until the end 

 of October. Sometimes only the thin leaf-covering of the soil 

 is burnt, and little damage is done ; sometimes the deep, dry 

 muck of the swamps burns for many days, and sometimes the 

 fire sweeps through the crowns, but often the surface, crown and 

 ground fires are one, roaring and rushing irresistibly with the 

 wind, with miles of front, until stopped by a lack of food 

 material, a fall of rain or a stream of considerable dimensions. 



About fifty per cent, of the fires of the Coastal Plain of New 

 Jersey are caused by sparks from locomotives, ten per cent, are 

 set by incendiaries for evil purposes, ten per cent, are set pur- 

 posely to improve the berry crop or pasturage, and the rest are 

 accidentally and carelessly set. 



The effects of fire are practically the same all over the world : 

 impoverishment of soil, destruction of game and its food supply, 

 unhealthfulness, increase of insect pests, in addition to the loss 

 of wood and other property and injuries to industries which use 

 wood. 



For the prevention of fire, the punishment of fire-setters and 

 the construction of wide fire-lanes along all public wagon-roads 



