A Brief History of Forestry. / In Europe, the United States and Other Countries

by B. E. Fernow

Of the forest area, 25 per cent. is to be found in the Alps, about 50 per cent. on the Apennines, the one mountain range which forms the backbone of Italy; less than one-quarter is distributed over the plains, and the small balance is found on the islands, especially Sicily, which is a hill and mountain country, once magnificently wooded, now largely denuded (4 per cent. wooded), and on Sardinia, which, with nearly 45 per cent. under forest, is the best wooded part of Italy, although the condition of the forest is here no better than elsewhere.

With the exception of the slopes of the Alps (2.5 million acres of spruce, fir, beech, larch), and the tops of the Apennines and remote plateaus (4.5 million acres), and of a few special places on which now and then even magnificent remnants of virgin forest may be found—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 macchia, i.e., chaparral), 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 firewood 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 Pine, and the umbrella-shaped Pinus pinea, and picturesque Cypresses are sometimes found in small groves, while the calcareous hills 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 Abies 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-eight per cent. of the forest area is in coppice (ceduo), and of the 52 per cent. of high forest, the bulk is managed under selection system (a scelta), a small part under clearing system (ad alto fusto), although management can hardly be said to exist except in small groves.

That supply of workwood is insufficient for the needs of the population, and is decreasing, is attested by the fact that the importations more than doubled in the decade from 1892 to 1903 to near 14 million dollars, 80 per cent. of which was saw material, in addition to 2 million dollars of wood manufactures, while nearly 5 million dollars’ worth was exported in the last named year, mostly cork, casks, thin box-boards, olive wood manufactures, and charcoal. No better picture of the forest conditions can be had than by a statement of the home production, which, in 1886, (last official data) was placed at 48 million cubic feet of workwood, valued at 3.4 million dollars, 223 million cubic feet firewood, valued at 4.1 million, 106 million cubic feet charcoal, worth 3.6 million, and by-products to the large amount of 6.4 million dollars, altogether a little less than 17.6 million dollars. Firewood and charcoal, which represent over 80 per cent. of the product, are, of course, furnished by coppice, and in addition by the pollarded material, almost the only fuel to be had.

The ownership of the forest area is for the greater part private (53 per cent.) and communal (over 43 per cent.), the State owning a little over 400,000 acres, less than 4 per cent. The State property being so small, supervision of communal and private forest has become the policy.

The State forest is of two classes, the alienable, under the Department of Finance, the larger part, about 375,000 acres, and the inalienable, so declared by law of 1871, which was then about 115,000 acres, and was placed under a forest administration in the Department of Agriculture; but of this about 20 per cent. is not forest, and even in 1896, some of this small area was sold so that now only 40,000 acres remain. This area is to serve for demonstration of model management, and to supply government needs. Beech and oak with fir, pine and larch, mostly in timber forest, characterize this property, which is managed mostly in selection system. Curiously enough, in 1888, the difficulty of disposing advantageously of the old timber is complained of, due to lack of means of transportation. The personnel of the administration consists of a central bureau with one Inspector General, three Inspectors, and a Council. For each province, and in some cases for two or more provinces together, an Inspector with several Sub-inspectors and a number of guards or brigadieri are charged with the management of the State property and the enforcement of the forest laws.

2. Development of Forest Policy.

For centuries, since the fall of the Roman Empire (476 A.D.) until the end of the eighteenth century, Italy has been the victim of war and strife with neighbors or within its borders, being divided into numberless commonwealths, almost each city being independent. Hence, no economic improvements could take place until, under the influences of the French Revolution, the regeneration period began. Not, however, until the seven or eight states, which the Congress of Vienna (1815) had established, were moulded into one united Italy under Victor Emmanuel, during the years 1859 to 1870, could an effective reconstruction be inaugurated.

It is true that some of the republics in earlier times paid attention to their forest property. Notably in Venice, old forest ordinances[14] 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 continued here until the beginning of the eighteenth century when, in consequence of political complications, supervision became lax, and devastation began which continued through the century, leaving to the new century, and finally to the Austrians, the legacy of the Karst (see [p. 173]).

[14] Berenger, Saggio storico della legislacione Veneta forestale, 1863. An excellent source.