THE PRESENT CONDITION OF FORESTRY IN ITALY. 63 



Sardinia those of 14th September 1844, and the decree of 

 Victor Emmanuel II. of 4th November 1851, which was later 

 extended to the Marches and Umbria. In Venetia and in 

 Lombardy the decree of Eugene Napoleon, of 27th May x8ii, 

 was still in force. 



The Hon. Majorana Calatabiano attempted to remedy this 

 want of uniformity in the legislation by means" of the law of 

 20th June 1877, which is still fundamental in Italy. It is very 

 liberal, being based on the opinion that in order to promote 

 forestry free competition is more advantageous than monopolies 

 and servitudes, and that when the demand is greater than the 

 supply there would be no lack of landowners who would be 

 induced by the prospect of profit to grow timber. In this law 

 liberty is thus the rule and servitude the exception, the latter 

 being limited to those cases bearing upon water-courses, upon 

 the protection of the land against erosion, etc., and upon public 

 health, but without any consideration of economic, climatic or 

 aesthetic factors. There was no provision for rendering 

 re-afforestation compulsory. 



This law ushered in a great destruction of forests. Whilst 

 the area of forests under the surveillance of the administration 

 was 12,463,543 acres on ist January 1877, it was reduced to 

 7,402,395 acres on 30th June 1879, and by successive freeing 

 from servitudes to 7,251,130 acres on ist January 1900. 



Too much trust was placed in the good effects of liberty, and 

 not enough consideration was given to the often imperious 

 motives which induce landowners to fell their forests, and to 

 the difficulty of finding people willing to embark their capital in 

 afforestation schemes, trusting to the market conditions of a 

 century later. Subsequent events proved that only a portion of 

 these woods was destroyed with the object of transforming the 

 soil they occupied into fields, meadows and vineyards, and thus 

 increasing the wealth of the country. The greater part of the 

 forests were ruined by the excessive fellings to which the owners 

 were driven by their straitened financial position, and by 

 the demands of the market. Concomitant causes were the 

 haphazard grazing and the primitive manner in which farming 

 was carried out upon the cleared lands ; usually after a few 

 years they were abandoned to the action of the water, which 

 leached them out and carried away the vegetable soil which had 

 accumulated in the course of centuries. 



