NOTES AND QUERIES. 321 



PtE- Afforestation in Italy. 



Mr Neville-Rolfe, British Consul in Naples, refers in his latest 

 report on his district to the widespread interest now being taken 

 in Italy in the question of re-afForesting the country. In 1877 

 about four millions of acres were withdrawn from the operation of 

 the old forest laws, as well as about one million acres in Sicily and 

 Sardinia. The consequence was a reckless destruction of forests ; 

 and now it is generally admitted that the State must step in to 

 save those that are left and to aid in replanting. The question 

 now being discussed is. What trees are to be used for the latter 

 purpose? The Italian oak is of little use except for railway sleepers ; 

 there is plenty of chestnut all over the country, and pine trees 

 would grow luxuriantly and prove most useful. The cork tree, 

 however, appears to be the one which would prove economically 

 the most valuable, and it has hitherto been almost wholly neglected 

 in Italy. In 1900 the cork exported was valued at only £36,000, 

 and much, no doubt, was used at home. But a few years ago, 

 Spain exported wine corks to the value of over a million sterling. 

 In Italy about 80,000 hectai-es of land are under the cork tree, 

 chiefly in Sicily and Sardinia; in Portugal, Spain, and Algeria, 

 the areas respectively are 300,000, 250,000, and 281,000 hectares. 

 The Calabrian cork forests have been almost wholly destroyed, the 

 ti-ees having been burnt for charcoal, and even Sicily now imports 

 corkwood in considerable quantities. Seventy years ago nearly all 

 the cork imported into England came from Italy; but since then 

 most of the Italian forests have been destroyed for charcoal, and to 

 produce potash, and those that remain are being devastated for the 

 same purposes ; and no one thinks of replanting the ground, which 

 naturally gets washed away owing to the absence of trees. Large 

 forests containing a majority of cork trees are continually being 

 released from the forest laws, and there is a risk that the produc- 

 tion of cork in Italy will soon cease. Nothing can replace cork in 

 its manifold use, and now, when vast quantities are used in making 

 linoleum and in shipbuilding, an adequate supply of it is of great 

 economical importance. — The Times, April 21st 1901. 



Forestry at the Eoyal Agricultural College, 

 Cirencester. 



The governing body of the Royal Agricultural College, Ciren- 

 eester, have taken into consideration the report of the Depart- 



