FOREST LOSSES ON THE ITALIAN FRONT 



1327 



and French troops to ports on the southern coast where 

 they were embarked for points in Macedonia, Mesopo- 

 tamia and Palestine. At first, only the largest and best 

 trees were cut, but as these became depleted, the sec- 

 ondary and more inferior trees were cut and the work 

 progressed to the central, and even the southern provinces 

 of Italy. Finally even the forests which had been classi- 

 fied as summer resort forests belonging to the state, had 

 to be cut. The sacrifice of these beautiful forests such 

 as Valombrosa, Camaldoli, Boscolunga, and others, 

 severely hurt the Italian pride in their native forests. But 



Photograph by Nelson C Broivn 



A LARGE STATE NURSERY AT BOSCOLUNGA TN THE MOUN 

 TAINS NEAR FLORENCE. THE SEED BEDS CONTAIN SILVER FIR 

 WHICH AFTER TWO YEARS ARE TAKEN TO THE TRANSPLANT 

 AREAS AND AT THE AGE OF FIVE YEARS ARE SET OUT IN THE 

 FORESTS. ON THE RIGHT IS AN AUSTRIAN PRISONER EM- 

 PLOYED IN WEEDING THE SEED BEDS. ON THE E.XTREME LEFT 

 IS PROFESSOR GIUSEPPE DI TELLA OF THE ITALIAN ROYAL 

 FORESTRY COLLEGE SPEAKING TO THE FOREST INSPECTOR OF 

 THE DISTRICT. TO THE LEFT OF THE AUSTRIAN PRISONER IS 

 MR. CAMILLO PARISINI. GENERAL MANAGER OF ONE OF THE 

 LARGEST LUMBER COMPANIES CUTTING STATE TIMBER FOR 

 \YAR EMERGENCY PURPOSES. 



the sacrifice was necessary for the winning of tiie Great 

 War. The splendid state forests in Tuscany, Abruzzi 

 and even in Calabria, were cut for the maintenance of a 

 big army of 5,000,000 men at the front. 



The effect on the Italian forests, therefore, must be 

 very apparent. Italian forestry which was assuming 

 considerable importance prior to the war, has received a 

 serious set back, and damage has been done which will 

 require a century or more to replace. 



The personnel of the Italian forestry service, which is 

 known as the "Servizio Forestale," is exceedingly high. 

 It has a number of excellent, trained specialists. on various 

 phases of forestry, and it compares very favorably with 

 the service of any of the other European nations. Prior 

 to 1910, the Service received only meager support from 

 the government as the annual appropriations only 

 amounted to $150,000. However, since that year, the 

 annual approjiriations were raised to 5.000,000 lire which 

 is equal to about $1,000,000. By way of comparison with 

 our forest service in this country, which has, roughly, 



about five and a half million dollars for an area of 

 160,000,000 acres, this is exceedingly good. Since the 

 entrance of Italy in the war, however, in 191 5, the 

 annual appropriation was cut to 3,000,000 lire, which is 

 equal to about $600,000. These amounts include the 

 support of the Royal Forestry College at Florence, and 

 two ranger schools. The schools had no students on 

 their rolls, during the war. The Forestry College re- 

 ceived an equivalent of about $40,000 annually both be- 

 fore and during the war. It was founded as early as 

 1869 at Valombrosa, and it continued there at the old 

 monastery until 191 1 when it was moved to Florence. 

 The two ranger schools are located at Valombrosa and 

 at Citta Ducali in the province of Abruzzi. The former 

 had 150 students before the war, and the latter, 300. 

 The organization of the Italian Forestry Service con- 

 sists of the director general in charge, who has his head- 

 quarters in the Ministry of Agriculture at Rome. Under 

 him there are 13 chief inspectors, 47 inspectors, 28 assist- 

 .int inspectors, 16 head rangers, 175 rangers, 425 briga- 

 'licrs and 2,400 guards. The Forestry Service has 



ox THE ASIAGO PLATEAU A SHORT DISTANCE FROM THE 

 FRONT LINES WHERE SMALL PATCHES OF SILVER FIR AND 

 NORWAY SPRUCE. PROTECTED BY THE TOPOGRAPHY. HAVE 

 Sl'RVIVED THE SHELL FIRE AND CUTTING FOR WAR PURPOSES. 

 NOTE THE GREAT MASS OF BARBED WIRE ENTANGLEMENTS 

 READY TO BE THROWN ACROSS THE ROAD IN CASE THE FRONT 

 LINE IS BROKEN THROUGH BY AN AUSTRIAN ATTACK. 



recently announced that wounded soldiers will receive 

 preference for all of these positions in so far as they 

 are physically able to perform them. 



During the year 1914, the total receipts from the state 

 forests was 1,309,427 lire, whereas the expenses were 

 only 1,148,371 lire, leaving a net profit of 161,056 lire, 

 which is, roughly, equivalent to about $32,000. 



