Forest Conditions. 145 



along the Adriatic with Dalmatia, Istria and Trieste, 

 which, from ancient times under Venetian rule, bring 

 with them the inheritance of a mismanaged limestone 

 country, creating the problems of the "Karsf reforesta- 

 tion which has baffled the economist and forester until 

 the present time; the two new provinces east of this 

 region, Bosnia and Herzegovina, whose rich forest areas 

 have only lately begun to be treated under modem con- 

 servative ideas ; and finally Hungary with a great variety 

 of conditions in itself. 



The large forest per cent, (over 32% of the land area) 

 is due to the mountainous character of the country, the 

 Alps occupying a large area on the west and southwest, 

 the Carpathians stretching for 600 mUes on the north- 

 east, various mountain ranges encircling Bohemia, the 

 Sudetes forming part of the northern frontier, and the 

 Wiener Wald besides other lower ranges being distri- 

 buted over the empire and boimding the fertile valleys 

 of the Danube and its tributaries. At least 20 per cent, 

 is unproductive. 



Hungary is mainly a fertile plain, traversed by the 

 Danube and Theiss, an agricultural country, with the 

 forest confined to the hilly portions to the mountain- 

 ous southern provinces of Slavonia and Croatia and to 

 the Carpathians, which bound it on the north and east. 

 Nevertheless, while wood in the plain is scarce, the total 

 forest area is but little less than that of Austria proper, 

 namely, 23,000,000 acres (28%). Large areas of shift- 

 ing sands, and along the Danube and Theiss rivers 

 swamps, partly created by deforestation, are interspersed 

 with the heavy black prairie and compact clay-soils. 



The climate in the northern portion of Austria proper 



