THE DESTRUCTION OF SZEGEDIN. 41 



report " On the State of Agriculture in Hungary," 

 presented to the International Congress at Paris in 

 1878, says, in speaking of certain districts, that they 

 would still be fertile if the inexcusable imprudence of 

 cutting down forests had not been committed " an 

 irrational proceeding," he adds, " which has exposed 

 some parts of the land to the risk of being carried 

 away by the waters." 



Every traveller in Hungary who has recorded his 

 impressions, has loudly proclaimed against the ruth- 

 less waste of the forests. Paget, Boner, and more 

 recently Crosse, have one and all dwelt largely on this 

 important subject. Mr Boner says : " The Wallachs 

 find it too much trouble to fell the trees they destroy 

 systematically : one year the bark is stripped off, the 

 wood dries, and the year after it is fired. ... In 

 1862, near Toplitza, 23,000 joch of forests were 

 burned by the peasantry. If this goes on, a time 

 will come when the dearth of wood will make itself 

 felt." 



Travelling in Hungary in 1876, Mr Crosse says: 

 " It is impossible to travel twenty miles in the Car- 

 pathians without encountering the terrible ravages 

 committed by the lawless "Wallachs on the beautiful 

 woods that adorn the sides of the mountains. . . . 

 The great proportion of the forest land belongs to 

 the State, hence the supervision is less keen, and 

 the depredations more readily winked at." 



^Vhile ringing our hands over the floods, it may 



