286 Italy. 



and of a few special places on which now and then even 

 magnificent remnants of virgin forest may be fonnd — 

 lack of transportation having preserved them — ^most of 

 the area is occupied by miserable brush forest, coppice or 

 else open forest with scattered trees among a shrub 

 undergrowth of thorns, hazel and chestnut (called 

 maechia i. e., chapparal), so that most Italians have 

 never seen a real forest. Nevertheless, Italy is by no 

 means as treeless as this condition of forest would 

 imply, for trees (poplar, ash, elm) are dotting the plains 

 and slopes, planted for vine supports and boundaries, 

 unshapely through pollarding and lopping the branches 

 for firewood. Olive and chestnut groves on the hills (of 

 the former 2 million acres, of the latter over 400,000 

 acres planted for the fruit), and 8.5 million acres in 

 vineyards add to the wooded appearance of the country 

 and to the wood supply. The annual product of fire- 

 wood from these planted trees is estimated at 6 million 

 cords. 



On the sand dunes and near the seashore, especially in 

 the marshes, the Maritime, the Aleppo puie, and the 

 umbrella-shaped Pinus pinea, and picturesque Cypresses 

 are sometimes found in small groves, while the calcare- 

 ous lulls in this region up to 1200 feet are studded with 

 olives, cork and evergreen oak. Osier growing is here 

 also quite extensively practiced. In the mountains, 

 above the 2700 foot level, conifer forest, composed of 

 Pinus silvestris and laricio, and Ahies pectinata, has been 

 reduced to less than 7 per cent, of the whole, mixed 

 conifer and deciduous forest represents 4 per cent, the 

 bulk being deciduous forest of oak (several species) and 

 beech, with chestnut. Forty per cent, of this is in 



