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. 
