141 



This sliowiug- indicates an increase of 41 per cent, over tlie census 

 figures of 18G9; and if the same proportion of increase may be assumed 

 for what is not here represented, it points to a crop of about 370,000,000 

 pounds. 



FOREST-CULTURE IN THE AUSTRIAN COAST 



PROVINCES. 



From a report prepared by Simon Scharnaggl, royal inspector of forests 

 in Trieste, and published by the Austrian Ministry of Agriculture, it ap- 

 pears that the destruction of forests upon the Adriatic is clearly recog- 

 nized as the cause of the frequent droughts, failing harvests, and con- 

 sequent poverty of the people of those regions. The total area of the 

 coast provinces is 1,385,476 joch,* or 1,970,562 acres. About 23 per cent, 

 of this area is designated as '•'■ Karst gribide f that is, land incapable ot 

 plow-culture on account of its irregularity of surface. For many years 

 the Austrian government has been anxious to restore the luxuriant 

 forest-growth that once covered this glass of lands, as well as to re-af- 

 forest other portions of these provinces. In 1857 the mayor of Trieste 

 planted a tract of barren Karst near Brassovizza with Austrian pine at 

 a considerable expense, but with entire success. Other partial experi- 

 tnents demonstrated the practicability of re-afforesting the Karst. In 

 1864 the imperial government commenced systematic operations by ap- 

 pointing local directors and by establishing nurseries for the growth of 

 young trees. Serious embarrassments were felt from the lack of practi- 

 cal knowledge in these local directors, and in numerous failures in ob- 

 taining tree-plants ; but by the concentration of tree-raising at a few 

 central nurseries, and by profiting from the lessons of experience gener- 

 ally, the enterprise has become quite promising. 



A powerful impulse was given to the movement by a convention of 

 Austrian foresters in 1865, who, after a thorough examination of the 

 Karst, came to the conclusion that the whole of this region was capable 

 of improvement, and that the forests would re-appear in a few years if 

 the ravages of live stock and wood-choppers could be restrained. They 

 appealed to government for aid, and proposed several judicious meas- 

 ures to secure the right kind of trees for replanting and the right 

 methods of culture. The government responded to this petition in 1868 



* A joch is 1.4223 acres. 



