FORESTRY AND THE WAR IN ITALY 411 



Alps, which were formerly well forested in places. Altogether 4,800 

 square miles of Italian territory have been over-run and devastated 

 to a greater or less extent. This compares favorably with the 6,000 

 square miles devastated in Northern France. Consequently Italy has 

 a great reconstruction problem to face. 



The National Parks and "summer resort forests," on which all cut- 

 tings had been previously prohibited by law, as at Vallombrosa, Cam- 

 aldoli, Mandrioli. etc., have been largely sacrificed for the war pro- 

 gram. The normal annual cuttings at Vallombrosa to maintain the 

 forest in the best condition was 6,000 cubic meters, whereas in 1917- 

 1918 over 54,000 cubic meters were cut; consequently the future cut 

 has been discounted for a period of nine years. The love of the 

 Italian people of the forests was strikingly shown when the govern- 

 ment, in the spring of 1918, announced its intention of cutting the 

 well-known forests of La Verna, in the Apennine Mountains of Tus- 

 cany. These forests had been made famous and even sacred in the 

 eyes of the Italians as the retreat of St. Francis of Assisi, and so 

 violent became the wave of resentment against the destruction of that 

 beautiful old silver fir forest that the officials of the War Ministry 

 decided not to cut it. 



The personnel of the Italian Forest Service has lost heavily in the 

 war. All able-bodied men up to 45 years of age were in the combatant 

 forces. Forest cuttings were handled entirely by expert lumbermen 

 under the leadership of a prominent Milan lumberman who had 

 managed extensive operations in other countries as well as in Italy. 

 The cuttings, however, were supervised by local forest inspectors. Men 

 unfit for service at the front were assigned for duty with the men 

 making cuttings, all of whom were militarized. The method custom- 

 arily followed consisted of clear-cutting the areas, followed imme- 

 diately by planting, either in the fall or spring, with silver fir (Abies 

 pectinata) . Austrian prisoners were in many cases used in the work 

 of both nursery maintenance and in the actual work of reforestation. 



Soon after Italy entered the war. in May, 191 5, the timber most 

 accessible to the front was cut, and as this became exhausted the 

 timber in Piedmont. Lombardy, the provinces next to Venetia, where 

 the actual fighting took place. Gradually, however, the entire peninsula 

 was scoured to supply the needed requirements. At first only the 

 better silver fir and spruce were taken, then the pine and white oak, 

 then the poplar and ash, and finally every species of almost any kind 

 was taken, including beech, eucalyptus, alder, maple, birch, beech, 

 acacia, and various other hardwoods. Even manv olive trees and 



