50 THE FOREST RESOURCES OF THE WORLD. 



respect. As to the forest area per inhabitant, taking Melard's fig- 

 ures for the areas, Spain, with a population of 18,090,000, has a forest 

 area per capita of 0.88 acre, and Portugal, with a population of 

 5,423,000, has only 0.23 acre. These figures can not, however, be con- 

 sidered reliable, and if Spain actually has nearly 0.9 acre for every 

 inhabitant the forest must be uncommonly poor, because Spain has 

 not enough timber to satisfy rather low home demands for wood. 

 The forests probably meet a great deal of the local demand and 

 furnish large amounts of cork for export, but on the whole they are 

 not suficient to supply the home consumption. The need for foreign 

 timber will still further increase as soon as Spain enters on a more 

 active exploitation of her mineral wealth. 



There are no figures of any kind in regard to the annual cut, 

 growth, or consumption for either country. 



ITALY. 



FOREST AREA. 



According to Loreto Pasqualucci, the forest area of Italy now 

 comprises 11,034,900 acres, but this figure is higher than that given in 

 the official Italian reports. 6 The official statistics b of this country 

 give the area of forests as 10,115,404.2 acres, or 14.28 per cent of the 

 total land area. The forest area per capita is 0.31 acre. 



The government ownership of forests is of two kinds. One part of 

 the state forests, 375,000 acres in extent, is under the direct control 

 of the secretary of the treasury, and any portion of it may be sold 

 whenever necessary ; another part, much smaller in area, comprising 

 only 40,000 acres, is declared inalienable, is directly under the secre- 

 tary of agriculture, and is administered by the forest service. The 

 largest state forest (28,245 acres) is in Tuscany, and two other large 

 forests (one of 16,137 acres, the other of 14,840 acres) are in Venetia. 



COMPOSITION. 



Of the total forest area 52 per cent is managed as high forests and 

 48 per cent as composite ana sprout forests. Of the high forest 30 

 per cent is coniferous, 62 per cent produces hard woods, and 8 per 

 cent is mixed forest. The forests are thus shown to be principally 

 hard woods. 



ANNUAL CUT. 



According to official statistics the following amounts were cut in 

 all the forests: Saw-log timber, 48,525,000 cubic feet, or 4.8 cubic 

 feet per acre; cord wood, 222,103,000 cubic feet, or 22 cubic feet per 

 acre; and wood for charcoal, 106,621,000 cubic feet, or 10.5 cubic feet 

 per acre, making a total of 377,249,000 cubic feet, or 37.3 cubic feet 

 per acre. 



In addition, by-products were obtained amounting to 1,708 tons; 

 this means enormous quantities of cord wood and wood for charcoal. 



a Nuevo annuario del commercio dell* Italia (1895), L. Pasqualucci, 

 & Annuario statisco Italiano, 1898 ed., 1900. 



