148 Austria-Hungary. 
against irksome restrictions led to widespread illegal 
exploitation and devastation, which as early as the 15th 
century had proceeded to such an extent that in Tyrol 
associations for protection against the torrents were 
already in existence. Yet in Tyrol, scantily populated, 
with one-third of its area unproductive and one-third 
forested, devastation continued until recent times in 
spite of the forest law of 1852, which instituted a forest 
police and forest administration of crown and communal 
forests. But in 1859 this organization was abolished 
before anything of value had been accomplished. 
In Krain, which was unusually well wooded, forest 
reservations were made for the use of the mines and 
furnaces in 1510 and 1515, taking in all forest lands 
within a given radius. The balance was mostly divided 
among small owners, whose unrestricted, unconservative 
exploitation continued into the latter half of the 19th 
century. 
In Styria, nearly one-half wooded and one-third un- 
productive, a regulated management was attempted as 
early as 1572, and by subsequent forest ordinances of 
1695, 1721 and 1767 devastation was to be checked. 
But the resistance of the peasants to the regulations 
and the inefficiency of the forest service were such that 
no substantial improvement resulted. 
In Galicia unusually extensive rights of user in the 
crown forests led to their devastation, and the attempts 
to regulate the exercise of these rights by ordinances in 
1782 and 1802 were unsuccessful. 
The forest area along the coast of the Adriatic in 
Istria and Dalmatia had furnished shiptimber even to 
the ancients. The Venetians becoming the owners of 
