Forest Policy, 289 
paid attention to their forest property. Notably 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 into the hands of the Venetians 
about 1420. A tolerably conservative management con- 
tinued here until the beginning of the eighteenth cen- 
tury when, 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 1826; in Rome, of 
1827 ; in Umbria, of 1805; in Bologna, of 1829; in Tus- 
cany, of 1829; 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 
*BERENGER, Saggio storico della legislacione Veneta forestale. 1863. An ex- 
cellent source. 
