358 Spain. 



State property and 20 per cent of the receipts from 

 communal forests were to be applied towards the 

 extinguishment of the debt. 



The ups and downs in this struggle to keep the 

 public forests intact were accentuated on the one hand 

 by the pressing needs of taking care of the debt, on 

 the other hand by drought and flood. Thus, in 1874, 

 the sale in annual instalments of over 4.5 million 

 acres in the hands of the Minister of Finance was 

 ordered, but the floods of the same year were so dis- 

 astrous, (causing 7 million dollars damage, 760 deaths, 

 28,000 homeless), being followed by successive 

 droughts, that a reversion of sentiment was experi- 

 enced, which led to the enactment of a reboisement 

 law in 1877. This law, having in view better manage- 

 ment of communal properties, ordered with all sorts 

 of unnecessary technical details, the immediate re- 

 forestation of all waste land in the public forests, 

 creating for that purpose a corps of 400 cultivators 

 (capatacas de cultivos). To furnish the funds for this 

 work the communities were to contribute 10 per cent, 

 of the value of the forest products they sold or were 

 entitled to. But funds were not forthcoming, and, 

 by 1895, under this law only 21,000 acres had been 

 reforested (three-fourths by sowing). 



The financial results of the management of the 

 public forests, although the forest department probably 

 did the best it could under the circumstances, had, 

 indeed, not been reassuring. In 1861, a deficit of 

 $26,000 was recorded; in 1870, $600,000 worth of 

 material was sold, 1.3 million dollars worth given 

 away, and $700,000 worth destroyed. Altogether, by 



