Forest Policy, 389 



paid attention to their forest property. ]S"otably in 

 Venice, old forest ordinances* date back to 697, and, in 

 1453, a regular forest administration was instituted, 

 especially to take care of the large forest area in Istria 

 and Dalmatia, which fell iato the hands of the Venetians 

 about 1420. A tolerably conservative management con- 

 tinued here until the beginning of the eighteenth cen- 

 tury whai, in consequence of political complications, 

 supervision became lax, and devastation began which 

 continued through the century, leaving to the new cen- 

 tury, and finally to the Austrians, the legacy of the 

 Karst (see p. 159.) 



Florence too, managed to prevent the deforestation of 

 the summit of her mountains until the beginning of the 

 eighteenth century, and in other republics, kingdoms and 

 duchies similar efforts at forest administration existed. 

 Yet Genoa, which in Strabo's time was the principal 

 timber market of Italy, had by 1860 nearly all its moun- 

 tain slopes denuded. 



Before the general legislation for all Italy was enacted 

 there were at least a dozen laws in operation in the vari- 

 ous provinces ; in Naples, the law of 1836 ; in Eome, of 

 1837 ; in ITmbria, of 1805 ; in Bologna, of 1839 : in Tus- 

 cany, of 1839 ; in Sardinia, of 1851 ; etc. If these had 

 been heeded much better conditions would have been 

 inherited by the new kingdom. 



With the arrival of a national spirit, many schemes for 

 the promotion of forestry were discussed. The academies 

 of Florence, Milan, Modena, Palermo, and Pesaro of- 

 fered premiums for reforesting of mountains, and called 



*6erenger, Saggio storico della legislacione Veneta forestale. 1863. An ex- 

 cellent source. 



