No. 4.] REPORT OF STATE FORESTER. 371 



incetown, from Buzzards Bay to Woods Hole, from Yarmouth to Hyannis, and 

 from Harwich to Chatham, to wit: there is only a single track on the main line 

 and the above branches, with sidings at the different stations; that the roadbed 

 over its entire length is of very uneven and varying grades; that there are operated 

 daily a large number of trains, both freight and passenger; that because of said 

 different grades, and because of there being but a single track, there is necessity 

 of making the sch^ules so that the trains may meet and pass at the meeting points; 

 that the locomotives of necessity in many instances have to be run at forced draft, 

 and therefore many sparks are emitted from them and many fires are thereby set; 

 that during the past summer months a very large number of fires have occurred, 

 and reports and complaints are being daily received by the State Forester of the 

 numerous fires that are being set, both within and adjoining the railroad location, 

 by sparks from the locomotives, which fires spread over the adjoining lands of 

 private owners; that in consequence of these many fires many of the communities 

 are in comparative fear of fires and of the damage resulting from them ; that while 

 the number of fires has been very great during the immediate past two months, 

 owing probably to the unusual dryness of vegetation, yet during all the year, when 

 conditions are normal, an unusually large number of fires are set in this county by 

 sparks from locomotives; that the railroad company has made an effort to reduce 

 the number of fires by clearing up its right of w^y and by equipping engines with 

 spark arresters, but the dryness of the vegetation and the unevenness of the road- 

 bed, requiring heavy firing of the locomotives at many parts of the system in this 

 county, has resulted in causing a large number of fires to be set (for example, it is 

 reported from the village of Barnstable that in a distance of less than 2 miles 11 

 fires were started on Saturday, August 16; an actual count of burned places within 

 and just outside the railroad location, between the railroad stations at West Barn- 

 stable and Barnstable, a distance of 4 miles, shows that a total number of 70 fires 

 have already been set during the present summer, and a casual observation while 

 riding on the train shows that a very large number of fires have been set within 

 and adjoining the railroad location throughout the whole length of the line in said 

 county) ; that your petitioner, in his capacity as State Forester, acting under the 

 authority of acts of the different Legislatures, has been for several years estab- 

 lishing nurseries and plantations in different parts of the Commonwealth for the 

 growing of trees, and has set out in various parts of Barnstable County plantations 

 of trees, all of which is being done both to create a new growth of trees and also 

 to encourage among private individuals the further growth of timber growing 

 within the Commonwealth and in that county; that in consequence of the many 

 fires which have been set by sparks from locomotives and from other causes, the 

 nurseries and plantations of trees have been seriously menaced ; that further intro- 

 duction has been retarded and private individuals have hesitated to engage in 

 forestry work; that a careful investigation of the conditions has convinced j'our 

 petitioner that the only remedy for preventing the setting of the large number of 

 fires is by a change of means of operating the engines of the New York, New 

 Haven & Hartford Railroad Company from the present coal-burning fuel engines 

 to either the electrification of that part of the New York, New Haven & Hartford 

 Railroad system which it operates in Barnstable County, or by equipping the 

 present engines, now equipped to burn coal only, with such devices as will allow 

 the burning of oil; that the electrification of that part of the line of said railroad, 

 while it would permanently prevent a recurrence of the present conditions, yet 

 seems to be impracticable at the present time because of the cost of installing such 

 a system; that the use of oil-burning engines in other parts of the United States, 

 where railroad locations run through forest and woodlands, has shown that the 

 use of such oil-burning engines has resulted in practically an entire stopping of 

 fires. 



Wherefore, your petitioner respectfully prays that your honorable board may 

 determine that only engines equipped with oil-burning devices shall be operated 



