292 Italy. 



If the regulations of the commissions had been ob- 

 served to their full extent, all would have been well in 

 time, but it is evident from subsequent legislative 

 efforts that the execution of the laws was not what could 

 be desired. Political exigencies required leniency in \ 

 the application of the law. An interesting report on 

 the results of the first quinquennium shows that during 

 that time 170,000 acres were cleared, over 40,000 with- 

 out permission, and by 1900, it was estimated, defor- 

 estation 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 excluded) 

 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 agitation, 

 and, upon a report of a special commission in 1886. the 

 law of 1874 was revived, extending the term of obliga- 

 tory reforestation in the endangered sections to ten 

 years. By that time, out of 800,000 acres originally 

 declared as requiring reforestation, not more than 

 40,000 acres had been planted, but the acreage involved 

 had also been gradually scaled down by the forest com- 

 mittees to 240,000 acres. The report, on the other 

 hand, found that the area needing reboisement was at 

 least 500,000 acres, requiring an expenditure of 12 

 million dollars. 



A revision and broadening of the law led to the gen- 



