344 Italy. 



the extent of two-thirds from the communes, the other 

 third from the provincial treasurer. 



In the forests placed under the law, clearing and 

 agricultural use is forbidden. Fellings and cultures 

 must be made under direction of the Committee. 

 No compensation is made for this limitation in use 

 except where hygienic influence was the basis for 

 placing the forest under ban. 



If the regulations of the commissions had been 

 observed to their full extent, all would have been 

 well in time, but it is evident from subsequent legis- 

 lative efforts that the execution of the laws was not 

 what could be desired. Political exigencies required 

 leniency in the application of the law. An interest- 

 ing report on the results of the first quinquennium 

 shows that during that time 170,000 acres were 

 cleared, over 40,000 without permission, and by 1900, 

 it was estimated, deforestation had taken place on 

 about 5 million acres. 



Wrangling over the classification of the lands under 

 ban has continued until the present, and local authori- 

 ties have continued to favor private as against public 

 interest, to withdraw lands from the operation, and 

 to wink at disregard of the law. Moreover, rights of 

 user to dead wood, pasturage (goats are by law ex- 

 cluded) and other privileges continued to prevent 

 improvement, although several laws to effect their 

 extinction had been passed. 



The devastating floods of 1882 led to much agita- 

 tion, and, upon a report of a special commission in 

 1886, the law of 1874, which had obligated the com- 

 munities to reforest their waste lands within five 



