Report of the Forest Commission. 91 



houses were wiped out of existence. One of the most notable landmarks 

 of South Jersey was consumed 10 days ago while the fires were raging in the 

 upper part of Atlantic county. It was Dougbty's tavern, off from Buena 

 Vista, which has been for half a century the favorite abiding place of sports- 

 men in quest of deer, quail, grouse and pheasant. There is not a gunner in 

 the Eastern States but that has visited this old-fashioned hotel or has heard of 

 some of the great conquests made by those who annually frequent it during 

 the shooting season. Cranberry bogs to the value of $75,000 were destroyed, 

 which had the effect of making the New Jersey crop exceedingly short and 

 defeating the cranberry growers in their new scheme of making liberal ship- 

 ments to England, where last year the cranberry was introduced under favor- 

 able circumstances. 



Mr. Gifford states that nearly every town in South Jersey which is near the 

 woods has been threatened more than once by flying sparks, and many fami- 

 lies have been obliged to flee in the night for shelter, with the flames rushing 

 after them at the speed of a horse. Whole townships have been burned, val- 

 uable industries destroyed, and, in fact, several localities depopulated entirely 

 because the industries that had been established there were obliged to leave 

 the pine lands because of the danger from forest fires. 



Solving the Problem. 



New Jersey has been endeavoring to solve the forest fire problem, and for 

 years an agitation has been going on, materially assisted by the State Geologi- 

 ical Survey, and the timber-owners now believe they are beginning to see 

 some practical way of meeting the emergency. In 1891 a general law was 

 enacted relative to forest fires, fixing the penalty of those caught setting fire 

 to property, and during the present year a valuable supplement was made to 

 that law. 



As a student of the subject, Mr. Gifford says that what is everybody's busi- 

 ness is nobody's business, and, in consequence, there is no united action in 

 either the prevention or the fighting of forest fires. When a fire is discovered 

 a few trusty men come to the rescue of the property-owner and fight as long 

 as human endurance will allow them. Forest fires, he contends, start in the 

 following ways : First, by railroads ; second, by scoundrels ; and third by 

 careless individuals. There is no doubt but locomotives going through'the 

 pine land are responsible for many conflagrations. It became incumbent upon 

 the railroads to use spark arresters on the smokestack of the engine and by 

 having places especially prepared for the dumping of hot coals, and also in 

 having each side of the track well plowed. The engineer, however fre- 

 quently becomes careless and removes the spark arrester, dumps live' coal 

 wherever he pleases, and fires are the result. 



The woods are frequently set on fire by spiteful men, who either have a 

 grudge against the land-owner, or burn another man's property to increase 

 he value of their own. Two of the most destructive fires in South Jersey 

 this summer were caused by a careless man burning brush, and another man 

 gettmg square with a neighbor by the use of a torch at midnight Tramns 



cTaiv W? 2 We " " ° thel u lndiVidUalS treSpaS8iDg in the woods ' «* -pe! 

 cially boys, throwing matches carelessly about, or a lighted cigar stumn 

 thrown mto dry leaves, are some of the causes of the fires. P 



