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by Mr. B. E. Fernow, Chief of the Division, which report, as well as 

 other publications of the Division, I recommend for perusal to all per- 

 sons interested in this important question of our timber supplies. In 

 most cases there are laws and penalties relating to starting fires, etc., 

 bnt the laws seem generally to be a dead letter ; they are rarely en- 

 forced, and consequently little heed is paid to them. In New Jersey, 

 the loss from fires for the last fifteen or twenty years is said to have 

 averaged, on a low estimate, $1,000,000 a year, an amount which would 

 nearly pay the entire taxes of the State. In Maryland, the loss by fires, 

 '' largely from locomotives,'^ is estimated at between $30,000 and $40,000 

 a year. The total losses by fire form in the aggregate an enormous 

 amount of timber, representing a wicked waste of material, and conse- 

 quently of money. On the other hand, the steps taken towards plant- 

 ing are few and insignificant, being almost invariably on a very small 

 scale. 



Street railways, too, consume a great amount of timber, and it is 

 IDrobable that the ties, from their being covered up but not protected 

 from moisture, have a short life compared with that of ordinary railway 

 ties. When we reach that station of progress when we shall begin to 

 follow the European precedent of building city railways of iron and 

 concrete, Ave shall materially reduce one item of consumption of timber. 

 But proper street construction must come before, or at least with, proper 

 street railway construction. 



In conclusion, the close relations of railways to the timber supply 

 of the country have, I think, been clearly outlined in this paper, and 

 I sincerely hope that at no distant time the railways will, in elfect, co- 

 operate with the Government in the conservation and protection of the 

 timber resources, while at the same time they greatly improve the effi- 

 ciency and value of their own works. 



