Silvicultural Development. 159 



and practice developed very much on the same lines as in 

 Germany, more intensively in the densely populated and 

 more accessible regions and less so in the more distant 

 and thinly settled moimtain districts. 



The most noted work of reforestation which has oc- 

 cupied Austrian foresters for the last forty years or more 

 is that of the "Karst," a name applied to the waste lands 

 in the mountain and hill country of Istria, Trieste, Dal- 

 matia, Montenegro and adjacent territory skirting the 

 Adriatic Sea. It is a dry limestone countr}* of some 

 600,000 acres in extent, stony and rough and over- 

 drained. Originally well forested with conifers and 

 hardwoods it had furnished for ages ship timber and 

 other wood supplies to the Venetians. Through reck- 

 less cutting, burning and pasturing by the small farmers 

 it had become almost entirely denuded, natural refor- 

 estation being prevented by these practices combined 

 with the dryness of the soil, intensified by the deforesta- 

 tion. 



For centuries countless laws were passed to stop the 

 progress of devastation, but without effect. 



The first attempt at planting was made by Trieste in 

 1842 and foimd some imitators, but with meager result. 



In 1865 the Austrian government, acting upon repre- 

 sentations of the Forestry Association, undertook to en- 

 courage and assist private landowners in reforesting 

 their Karst lands by remitting taxes on reforested lands 

 for a period of years, by technical advice and by assist- 

 ance with plant material and money. 



By this move so much land was withdrawn from paa- 

 ture and taxation that opposition was aroused among the 

 cattle owners, which led to additional legislation during 



