290 Italy. 
for popular treatises on silviculture. A forestry journal 
came into being, furthering the propaganda. In 1860 a 
very well written account of “Present Conditions of For- 
estry and Production of Sulphur in Sicily,” a collection 
of reports, was published by Shiro. In 1860 also, an 
investigation of forest conditions in each province was 
ordered by royal decree, and propositions for their im- 
provement were called for, which led to legislative pro- 
posals, introduced in 1862, and legislation enacted in 
1863. 
The law of 1863 still treated each province independ- 
ently: forest inspectors for each province, and for 
Naples an Inspector General, with district foresters and 
a large number of forest guards were appointed. 
Another law, applicable only to certain parts of the 
Kingdom, was enacted in 1874, intended to check the 
progress of deforestation and prevent turning waste 
woodlands into pasture; these absolute forest soils were 
to be reforested within five years. The law remained a 
dead letter, yet it is still in force in part, with modifi- 
cations enacted in 1886. 
The final unification as far as legislative unity is con- 
cerned, was completed in 1877, and in that year the first 
general forest law for all Italy was enacted. 
This law, which has mainly in view the protective in- 
fluence of forest cover as a factor in the public welfare, 
established provincial forest commissions, unpaid, who 
were to enact rules and regulations best adapted to their 
localities. The Board of Commissioners consisted of the 
prefect of the province, ex-officio president ; an inspector 
of forests, the technical officer who administers the gov- 
ernment property; an engineer appointed by the gov- 
