412 JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



cork oaks were cut until finally a decree was issued prohibiting the 

 cutting of these trees. 



In many cases motor trucks were employed to transport timber, 

 formerly so inaccessibly located that it could not be cut and delivered 

 to market at a price to compete with the imported stock prior to the 

 war. This held true of several forests in Calabria and Tuscany, where 

 lumber was transported as far as 26 miles by trucks. And this was 

 resorted to in spite of gasoline shortage, for no private motor cars or 

 trucks were permitted to operate in Italy during the years 191 7 and 

 1918, not even physicians being permitted their usual cars. Switzer- 

 land increased her exports to Italy on the proffer of war prices, and 

 the amount of lumber sent to Italy increased from 14,696 tons in 1913 

 to over 75,000 tons in 191 5. Italy, moreover, has sent kimber to 

 Macedonia for the Balkan front, and to Palestine and Egypt for the 

 English armies, and even as far as Mesopotamia during the war. This 

 seems a paradoxical situation, and yet Italy was the nearest and most 

 available supply of timber for those treeless countries. The only 

 lumber brought to Italy during the war was used exclusively for war 

 purposes, and consisted largely of aeroplane stock. So acute was the 

 demand for this material that the local silver fir, poplar, and pine were 

 used for the inside frames, and even local beech, ash, and walnut were 

 used for propellers. The wing beams were made of Douglas fir and 

 western spruce from this country. 



Although Italy had a difficult problem to face before the war, her 

 forest problem of the immediate future is much more pressing and 

 difficult. The only apparent solution of the situation presented by the 

 destruction on the high mountain forests seems to be immediate re- 

 forestation. The cuttings on the State forests during the war have 

 already been renewed by almost immediate reforestation. 



Italy must import a much larger amount of forest products in the 

 future, and this is going to be exceedingly expensive, saddled as she 

 is with her great war debts. One of the first problems which Italy 

 has to face and which must be solved is her forest problem. Essen- 

 tially a mountainous country, Italian foresters estimate that at least 

 32 per cent of the area of the country should be under forest growth. 

 With the readjustment necessary to the conclusion of peace, the 

 protection of her water-power properties, the reforestation of her 

 bare and denuded mountains, and the management of her forests to 

 supply a large share of her wood requirements in the future have be- 

 come national problems of much great moment and meaning. 



