336 Italy. 



quite beyond redemption, no country offers better 

 opportunities for studying the evil effects of de- 

 forestation on soil and waterflow. As a result of the 

 combination of geology (slates and limestones), topo- 

 graphy (steep slopes), climate, and forest devastation 

 or destruction, mainly by pasturage of goats (two 

 million), the Italian rivers are invariably flooded in 

 March and mostly dry in summer; the melting of the 

 snow coinciding with the heavy spring rains turns 

 them into raging torrents (fiumare), silting over 'the 

 fertile lands in the valleys and occasional landsides 

 in the mountain country, where extensive tracts are 

 nearly bare of vegetation. Especially the rivers 

 around Bologna, which in 1897 again caused damage 

 in excess of one million dollars, are dreaded. 



1. Forest Conditions. 



Situated similarly to Greece as regards accessibility 

 and climate, and similarly torn by wars and political 

 strife, and in unstable conditions for centuries, Italy 

 has in proportion to population, if not to area, reduced 

 her forest resources even more than Greece; less than 

 one-third of an acre per capita remains, with a total 

 of somewhat over twelve million acres, or about 17 

 per cent, of the land area, and this includes much 

 useless brushland, over 2 million acres. Apparently, 

 if the uncertain statistics may be relied upon, a re- 

 duction of several million acres has taken place even 

 since 1870. Some 15 million acres of waste land and 

 swamps offer ample opportunity for increasing this 

 forest area without infringing on the 42 million acres 

 of usefully employed agricultural soil. 



