igS FORESTRY IN SWITZERLAND. 



thereof. At the time referred to the forests of Mount Etna alone are said to 

 have covered 125,000 acres; now, however, the wliole province of Catania, 

 in which Etna is situated, is believed to contain only about 55,000 acres. 



The most extensive forests at present are "Etna;' " Caronian," and 

 "Ficuzza," the latter of which I have previously referred to. It was in this 

 forest the Bourbon kings formerly hunted during their reign or residence in 

 Palermo, which is, as stated, about thirty miles therefrom. 



PHILIP CARROLL, 



Consul. 



United States Consulate, 



Palermo, January 25, 1887. 



SWITZERLAND. 



REPORT OF CONSUL-GENERAL WINCHESTER. 



C"* REAT and increasmg attention is paid in Switzerland to forest culture 

 y and forest preservation. 



Two considerations have chiefly operated to produce its importance if not 

 its necessity: One, the influence in checking the sudden, and disastrous floods 

 so common in the mountain streams; the other, the protection and main- 

 tenance of the steep hillsides which constitute so large a portion of the agri- 

 cultural area of the country. From time immemorial almost all the moun- 

 tain cantons possessed forest laws, but it was not until the revision of the 

 federal constitution in 1874 that the federal assembly by virtue of article 24 

 of the constitution enacted the law of March 24, 1876, assuming federal 

 supervision of the whole question, and it is now regarded as a matter of 

 paramount national importance. The commercial management is subjected 

 by the federal law to state inspection. 



It is the duty of the forest department to give advice and point out the 

 necessity of renewal, replanting and maintenance of trees sufiicient for 

 shelter or protection against avalanches, earth-slopes and falls of rock. The 

 communal forests are managed by the council, who employ wood-rangers, 

 qualified by examination or training in the state forestry schools, and even 

 on the mountain side, apparently but a forbidding rock, by constant, careful 

 and scientific attention are found oak, beech, birch and pine in large quanti- 

 ties and of respectable dimensions. 



By the last report, embracing 1885, Switzerland contained the following 

 forest areas: State forest, 32,995 hectares, or 4.20 per cent.; commune and 

 corporation forest, 520,183 hectares, or 66.23 W^ cent.; private forest, 

 232,196 hectares, or 29.57 P^r cent.; total, 7^5,374 hectares. 



