FORESTRY IN ITALY. 197 



The following exhibit will give an idea of the extent of forest area reclaimed, 

 cost of planting trees, &c., in the province of Palermo from the year 1879 to 

 1883, inclusive: 



1879 Commenced preparations 



1880 562^ acres, cost ^1,500.00 



1 881 Nothing done 



1882 Nothing done 



1883 386 acres, cost $1,763.83 



From the statements previously made, it is obvious that the supply of Sici- 

 lian lumber is meager. There is a tree grown in Sicily called the ' ' quercus 

 suber," from which cork is produced. Lumber is imported from Austria, 

 France, England, and Norway, with all of which, excepting France, Italy has 

 a convention or treaty regulating the duty thereon on certain kinds thereof. 

 The duty on lumber varies according to its kind or character. Upon crude 

 or unsawed ebony it is 2 lire (about 40 cents) per quintal or hundred weight ; 

 on sawed ebony, 4 lire (about 80 cents) per quintal ; on pitch pine and wal- 

 nut for house-flooring purposes, sawed and planed, 6 lire per quintal ; upon 

 ordinary or common lumber of all kinds, crude, i lira per quintal, and upon 

 sawed lumber, used in the manufacture of boxes, barrels, &c., i lira per hun- 

 dred weight. The trade therein annually of Palermo is considerable. During 

 the year 1885 it amounted to ^213,403.20, judging from the. reports of the 

 imports of this port for that year, on file in the Consulate. 



The royal " Sazione Agzaria" and the " Societd di Acclimazwne". furnish 

 shoots and seeds free of charge, and also the " Vitis Americana," a prophy- 

 lactic against Phylloxera. These are government institutions and are managed 

 by the best talent in the country, and reflect great credit on the present gov- 

 ernment of Italy. It is understood there are no private concerns or persons 

 engaged to any extent in the seed or shoot business in this part of Italy. 



As previously intimated, there are no forest laws for this district, the forests 

 therein being subject to the general law of Italy in the premises. 



As to forests, the following books have been published on the subject and 

 are very instructive, viz: "Notizie SuUe Condizioni dell' Agricaltura in 

 Italia" (eleven volumes), 1870 to 1885; "Inchiesta Agraria," relative to 

 Sicily, in two volumes; "Notizie intorno ai boschi e terreni soggetti al Vincolo 

 forestale nel quinquennio," 1879 'o 1883; Rome, 1886. 



Referring to forests in general, I find, in reading upon the subject, that 

 those of Sicily were formerly remarkable for their extent and magnificence. 

 It was the Sicilian forests which furnished the splendid ship, building timber 

 during the dominance of the island by the Greeks and Saracens. Those 

 forests, however, have been rapidly disappearing since the fifteenth or six- 

 teenth century, and it is understood the ravages of the present century have 

 made more havoc therein than any of its predecessors. 



I find from statistics that in 1857 the total area of forests in Sicily was esti- 

 mated to be about 172,000 acres. The opinion now obtains that this acre- 

 age has considerably decreased, but it is thought the interest the government 

 has manifested in the restoration of forests will check further destruction 



