,310 FOKESTS OF ITALY. 



rains, and at the same time of providing a substitute for irriga- 

 tion of steep pasture-grounds, consisting in little more than in 

 running horizontal furrows along the hillsides, thus converting 

 the scarp of the hills into a succession of small terraces which, 

 when once turfed over, are very permanent. Experience is said 

 to have demonstrated that this simple process at least partially 

 checks the too rapid flow of surface-water into the valleys, and, 

 consequently, in a great measure obviates one of the most promi- 

 nent causes of inundations, and that it suffices to retain the water 

 of rains, of snows, and of small springs, long enough for the irri- 

 gation of the soil, thus increasing its product of herbage in a five- 

 fold proportion.* 



As a further recommendation, it may be observed that this 

 process is an admirable preparation of the ground for forest plan- 

 tations, as young trees planted on the terraces would derive a use- 

 ful protection from the form of the surface and the coating of 

 turf, and would also find a soil moist enough to secure their 

 growth. 



Forests of ItaVy. 



According to the most recent statistics, Italy has lY.Gd: per 

 cent, of woodland,t a proportion which, considering the charac- 

 ter of chmate and surface, the great amount of soil which is fit 

 for no other purpose than the growth of trees, and the fact that 

 much of the land classed as forest is either very imperfectly 

 wooded, or covered with groves badly administered, and not in a 

 state of progressive improvement, might advantageously be doub- 

 led. Taking Italy as a whole, we may say that she is eminently 

 fitted by chmate, soil and superficial formation, to the growth of 

 a varied and luxuriant arboreal vegetation, and that in the inter- 

 ests of self-protection, the promotion of forestal industry is among 

 the first duties of her people. There are, in Western Piedmont, 

 valleys where the f eUing of the woods has produced consequences 

 geographically and economically as disastrous as in Southeastern 

 France, and there are many other districts in the Alps and the 

 Apennines where human improvidence has been almost equally 



* Trot, lEtude sur le Reboisement des Montagues, §§ 6, 7, 21. 



t SiEMONi, Manuale d'Arte Forestale, 2 ediz., Firenze, 1872, p. 542. 



