Greece. 277 



GREECE. * 



1. Forest Conditions. 



Although certain districts, like Attica, were already 

 practically denuded in Plato's time, there is little doubt 

 that originally the whole of Greece with small exceptions 

 was a continuous forest. The destruction of the forest, 

 protected by thousands of gods and nymphs in holy 

 groves, proceeded slowly under the regime of the ancient 

 Greeks, until the fanaticism of the Christian religion led 

 to a war against these pagan strongholds, and the holy 

 groves were reduced by axe and fire. Turkish misrule, 

 for centuries, overtaxation, reckless cutting, extensive 

 herding of goats and sheep, and fires have reduced the 

 forest area imtil now it occupies only 12 or 14 per cent, 

 of the land area (25,000 square miles). In 1854, a 

 survey developed about 2 million acres of woodlands 

 (probably an excessive figure) for the now 2.5 million 

 people, while 67 per cent, of the surface is a useless 

 waste, and only 20 per cent, under cultivation, so that 

 the general aspect of the country is desolate. The many 

 islands are entirely deforested, and so are the seashores. 

 *'Where in olden times dense shady poplars stood, now 

 only infertile sand and dreary rock waste remain.'' 



The forest in northern and middle Greece is confined 

 to the two mountain ranges which run parallel, north and 

 south, with Mt. Ohnnpus (nearly 9,000 feet) and Mt. 

 Pindus (6,000 feet) the highest elevations. The large 

 plains of Thessaly and Boeotia are forestless. So is the 



Dr. Chloros, Waldverhaltnisse Griechenlands. Ihesis for the Doctorate at 

 Munich. 1884. 45 pp. 



Anderlind, Mittheilungen iiber die Waldverhaltnisse Griechenlands. AUge- 

 meine Forst-und Jagdzeitung. 1884. 



