Early Forestry Legislation. 341 



the eighteenth century when, in consequence of politi- 

 cal complications, supervision became lax, and devas- 

 tation began which continued through the century, 

 leaving to the new century, and finally to the Aus- 

 trians, the legacy of the Karst (see p. 173). 



Florence too, managed to prevent the deforestation 

 of the summit of her mountains until the beginning of 

 the eighteenth century, and in other republics, king- 

 doms and duchies, similar efforts at forest adminis- 

 tration existed. Yet Genoa, which in Strabo's time 

 was the principal timber market of Italy, had by 1860 

 nearly all its mountain slopes denuded. 



Before the general legislation for all Italy was 

 enacted there were at least a dozen laws in operation 

 in the various provinces; in Lombardy, the law of 

 1811; in Naples, the law of 1826; in Rome, of 1827; 

 in Umbria, of 1805; in Bologna, of 1829; in Tuscany, 

 of 1829 ; in Piedmont, of 1833 ; in Sardinia, of 1851 ; etc. 

 If these had been heeded much better conditions 

 would have been inherited by the new kingdom. 



With the arrival of a national spirit, many schemes 

 for the promotion of forestry and of forest policy 

 were discussed. The academies of Florence, Milan, 

 Modena, Palermo, and Pesaro offered premiums for 

 reforesting of mountains, and called for popular 

 treatises on silviculture, A forestry journal came 

 into being, furthering the propaganda. In 1860 a 

 very well written account of "Present Conditions of 

 Forestry and Production of Sulphur in Sicily," a 

 collection of reports, was published by Shiro. In 

 1860 also, an investigation of forest conditions in 

 each province was ordered by royal decree, and 



