 Section 17 of a brief history of forestry. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. A Brief History of Forestry by Bernard Fanau. Section 17, The Scandinavian States, Denmark Forestry in Denmark is of interest especially on account of the intensive methods developed on small areas and of the efforts of reforestation of sand dunes, moors and heaths. Greatly curtailed an area when, as a result of the war of 1864, Prussia detached the provinces of Schleswig and Holstein, Denmark now has an area of 15,360 square miles, with 2.5 million people, or 163 to the square mile. It is largely a farming country, 80% being productive, only 6.3% of it, or less than 600,000 acres being under forest, and this also mostly on soil capable of farm use, hence an import of over $7 million worth of wood material is required. In addition, there are about 75,000 acres of heaths and other wastes in process of reforestation. Especially on the island of Huiland, on which the capital Copenhagen is situated, the forest area is now increasing by planting. The balance, or nearly 20% of the land area, consists of heaths, moors, peat bogs and sands. Half of the forest area is located on the islands, and as these represent about one third of the total area, they are twice as densely forested as the peninsula of Udland. This latter along the north and west coast for 200 miles represents a large sand bank with extensive sand dunes, shifting sands, heaths and moors, a desolate almost uninhabited country of sterile downs, called Cluton, though recovery of which has been in progress for 100 years. According to some, this once bore a coniferous forest, more likely it was never forested. While original beach was and is still the predominant timber, 60%, with considerable additions of oak, 7% and other hardwoods, a conifer forest of spruce and pine covering more than 20% of the forest area has been established by planting. This planting has been mainly done on the dunes and sand wastes, and in the reclamation of the extensive heaths and moors, or peat bogs, especially in the northern Limfjord district, which occupy one sixth of the unproductive area. As was natural, the forest stocking on good farmland had to yield early to plough and pasture. Attempts at conservative use of the forest area date back to 1557, when Christian III issued a forest ordinance directing his vassals, or leech lords, to permit the peasants to secure their domestic wood roof. This was a requirement at a cheap rate, but not to permit cutting for sale or export and reserving to himself all returns from such sales. There were also regulations for the pasture, especially as to goats and for the use of the mast, which then formed more than one quarter of the income from the royal forests. In the 11th century the needs of forest management was recognised, and in 1762 the two eminent German foresters, von Langen and von Zanthia, C. page 88, were invited to visit Denmark and Norway, C. above, with a view of organising such management. In 1760, eight young Danes were sent to von Langen in Vernegevröde, to study his methods for three years, and these with the two German foresters returned in 1762, and under the direction of von Langen organised the sealant forest areas and started the first plantations of conifers, which are now the pride of Danish foresters. In 1781 the state forests were all together placed under an organised administration. By the beginning of the 19th century the reduction of forest areas had progressed to such an extent that in 1805 a law was enacted providing that the then existing forest area containing beech and oak should be maintained as such forever, or at least that any new clearing and equivalent area be planted to forest. This law was perhaps the result of a journey in 1802 to Germany, made by two leading officials of the forest department, German influence through Kutter and Hartig being at this time visible everywhere. Other restrictions in the disposal of peasants' farms or woodlands, and in the manner of farming the larger states, otherwise than by renting to farmers, were also enacted in order to secure stability of the peasant class. It was at this time that the accumulative taxing of landed estates now under heated discussion in Great Britain was used effectively to break up the aggregation of landed property and change the country from one of baronial estates to small farmers' holdings. In this reform movement the name of Count Reventlo, chief of the state forest department, appears as the leading spirit. The forest area, which until 1820 was on the decrease, had since that time increased steadily and is especially now increasing through reforestation of wastelands. At present, most intensive forest management is practised in the state forest as well as in the communal and private forest areas, which latter is stated are largely in farmers' wood plots since the law forbids the union of small farms into larger states. There is little communal property, and large private estates are also rare. The state owns about 24% of the forest area, or 142,000 acres, of which one-third is non-productive or otherwise occupied, and one-third consists of coniferous plantations. Accepting in the beach forest most of the timber is of the younger age classes, below 60 to 80 years, and it is anticipated that the cut will have to be reduced and the import of wood and woodenware increased. Artificial reproduction is the most general silvery cultural practice except in the beach forest which is reproduced naturally at the preparation of the soil and sowing acorns for admixture at the same time, spending altogether $12 to $15 per acre in this preparation. Since 1880, thinnings have been based on the idea of favouring final harvest trees somewhat after the French fashion. They have begun in the 20th to 30th year and are repeated every three years, aided by pruning. Then, in each subsequent decade, the return occurs in as many years as the decade has tens. Especially in the direction of thinnings, the German practice and even theory is outdone, the thinnings being made severer and recurring more frequently. More than a hundred years ago the state began the reclamation work of the dunes and heaths, but it progressed more actively only since the sixties of last century as a result of legislation had in 1857. In 1867 a special dune department was instituted, and through the effort of a state engineer, Captain Dalgas, an association was formed for the reclamation of heaths and moors. A small subvention of $600 started the work of the association in its useful campaign under the advice of starch planter, state forest planter, Jensen Tushk. The state's subvention now amounts to about $40,000 annually, and the success of the association has been such that it has been almost a fad for large landowners and others to buy up these wastelands, and have them planted through the agents of the heath association. The planting is mainly of spruce in plough furrows at a cost of $10 to $12 per acre, 60 to 80 year old stands of earlier plantings testifying to the possible results. In the last 40 years nearly 200,000 acres of heath have been planted, of which over one half are to the credit of the association. For the education of the higher grade foresters, a department of forestry, now with two professors, was instituted in the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural High School at Copenhagen in 1869, with a course of five years including one and a half years of practical work. This education is given free of charge. The heath association educates its own officers, including in their subjects the management of meadows and peatbox. A forestry association composed one half of forest owners with its organ titsgrift for school basin, in existence since 1888, and a valuable book literature in which the problems of the heath are especially fully and authoritatively treated, places Denmark in the foremost rank in the forestry world in these particulars. Among the prominent contributors are to be mentioned besides Revent Lowe and Dal Gas, P. E. Muller, well known by his discussions of the problems of more soils. From 1876 to 1891 he issued a magazine in which Opperman contributed a history of Danish forestry, the latter author also, in cooperation with Houch, published in 1900, a handbook of forestry. End of section 17 Section 18 of a Brief History of Forestry This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org A Brief History of Forestry by Bernard Fanau Section 18 The Mediterranean Peninsula's Turkish and Slavish Territories The Mediterranean Peninsula's Geographically, and to some extent climatically, the three peninsulas of the Mediterranean Sea, the Iberian, Italian and the Balkan, are situated alike. Their people, if not in race, are in temper and characteristics and in their political economy more or less alike. They represent the oldest civilization in Europe, and in their long history have been frequently in collision with each other. Their forests, through centuries of abuse, are wherever accessible in poorest condition. Long continued political disturbances, which have prevented peaceful development and poverty, have been the greatest hindrances to economic reforms like the recuperation of forests which require sacrifices. Ancient rights of user, and the necessity of politicians to respect them, are also responsible for the fact that, while praiseworthy attempts in legislation have been made, execution has been usually lagging behind. The accessibility to sea, permitting readily importation, the temperate climate, the simple life, and abstemiousness of the people, and the lack of industrial development, have made the deficiency of wood material less felt than it would otherwise be. But the detrimental influence of forest destruction is being repeatedly experienced in floods and droughts. There is probably no more potent cause of forest devastation in all this section of the world than the past string of the woods, especially with sheep and goats. While Italy is now a united country, and only two peoples, Spain and Portugal, occupy the Iberian Peninsula, the Balkan Peninsula is occupied by eight separate peoples, if we include all the country south of the Danube River and east of the Carpathian Mountains. Turkish and Slavish Territories The Turks for centuries warred with, had under, vassalage, or otherwise controlled and misruled all the Slavish states, as well as Macedonia and Greece, a territory of around 170,000 square miles and 16 million people. Until, by the Congress of Berlin, 1878, ending the Russo-Turkish war, these states were recognized as independent kingdoms, namely Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, Rumelia, and Romania, while Bosnia-Herzkovina was placed under Austrian administration, see pages 155 and 166. With the exception of Romania, these people are still in the lower stages of civilisation, the country's undeveloped, the forest still serves largely for the mast and pastureage, probably less than 24% of the country being forest-covered, mostly with deciduous trees, oak, beech, and walnut, etc. Romania alone has systematically taken advantage of her freedom from Turkish rule in developing a modern civilisation and can also boast the beginning of a forestry system. Rumelia, comprising Macedonia, Albania, and Thrace, the Turkish possessions in Europe, with 67,000 square miles and 5 million people, contain large areas of untouched forest, not less than 5 million acres in Macedonia alone, with valuable oak and walnut, which have remained unused owing to their inaccessibility and the undesirability of developing them under Turkish rule. Where accessible, the forest is maltreated or destroyed. Bulgaria, to which, in 1885, East Rumelia was attached, represents now 38,000 square miles and over 4 million people, independent under a German prince as king since 1879. The forest area of 7.5 million acres, 30% of the land area, mostly deciduous, oak, beech, walnut, etc., and largely confined to the mountains, is one-half in communal ownership, one-sixth in private hands, mostly small woodlots, and one-third state property. But ownership rights are still much in doubt, and until 1869 the state forests were freely open to the use of all, when some sort of regulation of the cut according to the needs of different communities was attempted. Since within 10 years such rights of user establish ownership, endless litigation has resulted, until in 1883 the law was enacted ordering the stoppage of rights of user, substituting money payment, 10% of value, and another restricting the diameter to which the most valuable export timber, walnut, may be cut. Changes in detail were made in 1897, but political exigencies, absence of an adequate organization, and other undeveloped conditions, have largely prevented enforcement of these laws, and rough exportation continues in spite of the nominal state control. Owing to inaccessibility of many of the agricultural districts to the wooded mountains, a large import was necessary, but lately export almost equals the import, and indeed the export of walnut has increased 14-fold in a few years. The Forest Administration is vested in a Bureau under the Minister of Commerce and Agriculture, with a Chief, an Inspector General, and two Assistant Chiefs. When it is stated that in 1905 the entire budget for forestry was $150,000, the inefficiency of the service is apparent. Serbia, a kingdom with 19,000 square miles and 2 million people, has over 42%, 5 million acres, according to others only 32%, still in untouched forest, with valuable oak and walnut, the forest being mainly used for hog raising. Over 36% is state forest, over 43% communal and institutional forest, leaving about 20% in private hands, but just as in Bulgaria property conditions are still somewhat unsettled. Like Bulgaria also on account of the uneven distribution of forest area, lack of transportation and systematic development, a large part of the population are more cheaply supplied by importation, which amounts to near $1 million. Curiously enough, by the law of 1891 only the woodcut from state and church forests could be exported free of duty. This export duty was abolished in 1904, and the first attempt was made by the Minister of Agriculture to bring order into the forest administration by importing German foresters. The law of 1891, with various subsequent additions and changes, placed private forest property located on exposed mountain slopes or on shifting sands, or on bog soils, under government surveillance, and relieved plantations made into direction of the government of taxes for 10 years. Romania, with 50,000 square miles and nearly 6 million people, under the capable administration of a Hohenzollan prince, King Charles, was in Roman times as Dastia Felix, one of the most prosperous provinces, half of it Hilly and mountainous, the other half in the rich, alluvial valley of the Danube, now largely deforested. The hill and mountain country was, until the end of the 18th century, still well wooded. A rapid depletion then took place by the demands of the Turkish markets, until now not quite 17%, according to others 18 or 20%, of the area is forested, and multifarious rights of user, which made commons of the woods, have naturally led to widespread devastation in the accessible parts. In 1847 the National Assembly attempted regulation of the cut and of the rights of user, but with little effect. In 1894 the total area had decreased to less than 5 million acres, according to others 6.7 million acres, of which two fifths is in private hands, two fifths state property, and royal forest, formerly until 1863 in the hands of the monks, the small balance belonging to communities and institutes. In the higher mountains, fur and spruce with some pine and larch form the forest, but broadly forest, especially oak and beech, is the prevailing type occupying the middle altitudes and the hill country. The private forest of small owners is being rapidly depleted, only the state forest and that of large proprietors being in good condition. In 1863, when the cloister property was secularized and taken over by the state, the rights of user in this property were suspended, and sales at auction to contractors were inaugurated, under condition that a certain number of seed trees per acre be left. There was little enforcement of this rule. The first comprehensive law, organizing the state property and inaugurating a protective policy, was enacted in 1881. This law recognized state, royal and communal property as of public concern, and also placed such private property under supervision as was situated on steep slopes, near watercourses and near the boundaries of strategic importance. These areas, coming under the protective policy, comprise 84% of the whole forest area. They were not to be cleared except by special permit, and not to be exploited except under specially approved working plans. In 1885, three French foresters were called in to organize a state forest department, and to inaugurate the making of working plans. The personnel, 25 inspectors and 89 district officers, being insufficient and wood prices low, the income from state property being not over $400,000, the progress of the work was slow. Although, in 1894, the income had doubled, the administrative forces had not been enlarged to any great extent, 137 foresters of various grades, and by that term only 150,000 acres had been brought under working plans. By 1900, about 200,000 acres of state property, or 14%, and 500,000 acres of private forest, or 22%, were organized in some fashion. Lack of means of transportation, however, prevents a really well regulated management. Altogether, only 65% of the state property is accessible, so that it can be worked, and the working plans consist mainly in leaving a number of seed trees. In 1889, a forestry association, Progressoul-Silvic, was formed, which with its organ, Revista Padjurello, pushes the propaganda. In 1890, an energetic minister of domains, Carp, sought strenuously to bring improvement into the situation. A budget of $500,000 for foresters dwellings was secured to bring the forest managers into closer contact with their charges. A planting fund of $100,000, later increased to $140,000 per annum, was voted, and reforestation and reclamation of sand dunes was begun. A forest improvement fund was inaugurated in 1892 by setting aside 2% of the growth forest yield. But in the political struggles, Carp's party was displaced, and depression in agricultural prosperity, causing financial distress. An era of increased exploitation followed, so that the export of forest products, largely cupridge, mainly to Greece, Italy and France, which had been declining to less than half, rose again to about $4 million annually. The financial embarrassment of the state led even to a proposition to sell state forests, but before contracts for this purpose were consummated, relief came and the danger was averted. The state cuts about 22,000 acres annually, yielding about a million dollars, the administration costing, in 1903, $240,000, leaving a net yield of 30 cents per acre. In 1898, the Forest Department, in the direction of domains under the Ministry of Agriculture, consisted of a forest director with 156 foresters academically educated, mostly in France, and since 1892 in the Agricultural Institute at Bucharest, and over 2,500 underforesters and guards. Of some 30,000 acres of sand dunes, one half belonging to the state, about 18,000 acres have been recovered by planting black locusts, and some 9,000 acres of plains country have been reforested, for which 330 acres of nurseries furnish the material. In spite of all these efforts, excessive pasturing, although forbidden in the state forest, and fires continue to devastate the property. Private forestry is of course much less developed, yet some large properties, Princess Schoenberg with 20,000 acres, are under efficient German forest management. Here, money is spent on developing means of transportation, and a better revenue is secured than in state forests. End of Section 18 Section 19 of a Brief History of Forestry This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org A Brief History of Forestry by Bernard Fanau Section 19, Greece The history of the country has been so unfortunate, and political conditions so unsettled, that only lately efforts at improvement in economic conditions could hope to receive attention. For centuries after Greece had become a Roman province, 146 BC, it changed rulers, Romans, Byzantines, Franks, Venetians, following each other, until between 1460 and 1473, it came under the Turkish yoke. As a result of an insurrection, started in 1821, freedom, but no settled order as yet, was attained in 1829, through the assistance of Great Britain, France and Russia, and the electric kings, Otto of Barbaria, Alfred of England and George of Denmark, successfully tried to secure social order and efficient constitutional government. By the time this new era had arrived, there was probably little valuable forest worthy of the name left, except in the inaccessible mountain districts. 1. Forest Conditions Although certain districts, like Attica, were already practically denuded in Plato's time, there is little doubt that originally the whole of Greece, with small exceptions, was a continuous forest. The destruction of the forest, protected by thousands of gods and nymphs in holy groves, proceeded slowly under the regime of the ancient Greeks, until the fanaticism of the Christian religion led to a war against these pagan strongholds, and the holy groves were reduced by axe and fire. Turkish misrule for centuries over taxation, reckless cutting, extensive herding of goats and sheep, and fires, have produced the forest area until now occupies only 12 or 14% of the land area, 25,000 square miles. In 1854 a survey developed about 2 million acres of woodlands, probably an excessive figure, for the now 2.5 million people, while 67% of the surface is a useless waste, and only 20% under cultivation, so that the general aspect of the country is desolate. The many islands are entirely deforested, and so are the seashores, where in olden times dense shady poplars stood now only infertile sand and dreary rock waste remain. The forest in northern and middle Greece is confined to the two rugged mountain ranges, with numerous spurs which run parallel north and south with Mount Olympus, nearly 9,000 feet, and Mount Pindus, 6,000 feet, the highest elevations. The large, fertile plains of Thessaly and Boetia are forestless. So is the large Arcadian plateau of the Peloponosis, and the other smaller, hot but fertile plains and plateaus. The most valuable conifer forest is found on the higher ranges between the 2,500 and 5,000 foot level. Below the snow-clad mountain tops were especially two species of fir, Abys apollonis, and Abys reginae amelae, a species remarkable for its sprouting habit, with other firs and several species of juniperus and supresus, form sometimes extensive forests. Other common trees are chestnut, sycamore, several species of oak and poplar, and on the coast, pineus halopensis. The firs occupy about 35% of the forest area, oaks and deciduous forest 45%. Among the forest products which are exported we find galls, vermilion, and sumac, prominent. It is believed that greek and ancient times was more fertile than it is now, and that the deterioration is due to deforestation. Undoubtedly, soil conditions favoured such deterioration, for, with the exception of the Pindus range, which is composed of metamorphic rock, a poor dry limestone is characteristic of the country, except where fertile, alluvial and diluvial deposits cover it in valleys along the coast. The climate is however so favourable that even the poor soil would readily reclothe itself if left alone. The winters are short, hardly three months, and with hardly any snow or ice except on the high mountains, making the vegetative period nine months, and with temperature ranges from 20 to 106 degrees Fahrenheit, rainfall average 400 millimetres, the summers to be sure rainless and dry, but the other seasons humid, somewhat less than in middle Europe. Rapid growth is the result of these conditions. But the continued pasturing of goats and sheep, some six million, prevents any natural reforestation. Increased taxation on this industry has had no effect, and the practice of permitting the people to gather dry wood for fuel is an incentive for making dry wood by setting fires, which also served to improve the pasture. Perhaps nowhere are forest fires more frequent in spite of heavy penalties. That a baneful influence on the water condition and river flow has been the result is historically demonstrated by Chloros. In the mountains, some fine and quite extensive bodies of fur still exist, lack of transportation having preserved them. Elsewhere, the rites of user and the herding of goats are so well established that reforms appear indeed difficult. Firewood, three loads for each person, supposed to be taken from the dead or otherwise useless trees, and a small dimension material is free to all. For the right to cut work wood, the government charges a tax of 25 to 30% of the value of the material, the price for this being annually determined. On the material cut in private forests, the government also levies a tax of from 12 to 18% of its value. This pernicious system of promiscuous cutting leads to the most wasteful use imaginable. Not only high stumps, but large amounts of good material are left in the woods so that it is estimated that hardly 50% of what is cut is really utilized. The cut, as far as the tax gives a clue to it, amounts to around 2.7 million cubic feet work wood, but with the firewood included it was estimated that near 90 million cubic feet are cut annually. Importations to the amount of 1.5 million dollars, mostly from Austria and Romania, make up the deficit in work material, especially for the box factories which manufacture the packages for the large export of currents, some 2 million boxes. The tax during the decade from 1862 to 1871 produced an annual income of $600,000, a little less in 1895. The forest has been from olden times and is now almost entirely state property, some 80 or 90%, and in nearly all the remaining private communal and cloister property the state has a partial ownership or supervision. The wasteland of probably 3 million acres extent also belongs to the state, the whole state property covering over 30% of the land area. 2. Development of Forest Policies A first definite attempt to regulate matters was made by Otto, who, being a German, took a personal interest in this forest property, and instituted for each province forest inspectors, dachasis, under one chief inspector, with forest guards to prevent devastation by fire and theft. The mistake was made of employing in these positions superannuated Bavarian army officers, who were merely a burden on the treasury. No management or even regular felings were attempted. The population could, as before, supply its need upon permits, always granted, from the governor of the province, one of the forest guards being supposed to vise these, and to see that the wood was properly employed, not however to supervise the cutting. In 1877 further legislation was had, instituting in the Ministry of Finance a forest inspector, technically trained, with two assistant inspectors also technically trained, to superintend the outside work. A forest survey was begun in 1879, but interrupted in 1888 for lack of funds and personnel. The same law placed the duty of guarding the state property in the hands of the General Police or gendarmerie, 50 officers and some 340 guards, and during the fire danger, June to October, 110 more, being detailed for this service under direction of the Minister of War. The pernicious permit system, however, was continued. Dr. Chloros, who obtained his education in Germany, became finally forest director, and was responsible for securing further legislation in 1888, the object of which was, as a first step towards improvement, to survey and delimit and round off the state property. It provided that enclaves and all absolute forest soil was to be expropriated. If no amicable agreement with the owner could be reached, the price was to be determined by the net yield which had been obtained from the property during the last five years, capitalised at 5%. No attempts, however, at an efficient organisation of change of the destructive permit system were made. By general law, the state has the right to surveillance of private property, although the extent of this right is not fully defined. The government may take for its own use, by paying for it, upwards of one sixth of the annual cut. It collects a tax of 12% to 18% for all woodwork cut, it forbids the pasturing of woods that have been burned within 10 years, and obliges all owners of over 1,200 acres to employ forest guards. This, and other interference with property rights, naturally acts as deterrent to private forest management. A notable exception is the small private royal forest property near Athens, which, since 1872 under a Danish forester, appears to have been managed under forestry principles. A thorough reorganisation of the forest service was effected in 1893, when 20 district foresters were employed, the number of forest inspectors was increased to four, and a regular division of forestry was instituted in the finance department. The general police, or gendarmerie, were continued as forest guards. Until a native personnel could be educated by sending young men to Germany, foreigners were to be employed for the making of working plans. Yet, in 1896, the then director of the forest department, a lawyer, still complains of the absence of a proper organisation and of any personnel with forestry knowledge. Apparently no progress had been made. In that year, however, the gendarmerie was to be replaced by forest guards, 52 superior and 298 sub-altern, who were to be appointed from graduates of a special secondary school, which had been instituted by Tina some two years before. This replacement could, of course, not be affected at once, since hardly more than 25 men could be graduated annually. Hence, even this improvement in the lower-class police would not be completed for six or eight years. No steps had been taken to educate officers for the higher grades, and in this direction propositions merely were discussed. In 1899 a change in the permit system was made, but hardly for the better, justices of the peace being empowered under certain conditions to issue such permits. Nor do we find in 1901 anything more than expressions of good wishes and desire for further legislation, besides some attempts at popular education through the formation of tree-planting associations under the patronage of the Crown Princess. In 1905 no change in conditions are reported. Forest fires still continue as a common occurrence. While the government makes efforts to improve conditions, the indifference, stupidity, qubitity and malevolence of the people and the long-established abuses prevent rapid progress at reform. End of Section 19 The efforts to secure improvement in the treatment of forest resources have been more active and strenuous in Italy than in Greece. They were induced especially by the urgent need of protecting watersheds, the rivers throughout Italy having been turned into torrents by deforestation. But, owing to the weakness of the government and poverty, the actual execution of the very good laws has lagged behind. Indeed, while ample legislation has been enacted, the people, overburdened with debt and needing the small income that can be derived from pasturing or renting the pasture in the woods, make it difficult to carry on any reform and the enforcement of the laws has again and again led to serious trouble. Forestry is a sore point in the national economy of Italy as it involves the sacrifice of money in time. Italy, therefore, is still in the transition period from forestryl-repeen to forest culture. Densely populated, 33 million on 110,600 square miles, with fully one-fifth of its area unproductive or at least unused and one-quarter of this almost or quite beyond redemption, no country offers better opportunities for studying the evil effects of deforestation on soil and water flow. As a result of the combination of geology, slates and limestones, topography, steep slopes, climate and forest devastation or destruction, mainly by pastureage of goats, two million, the Italian rivers are invariably flooded in March and mostly dry in summer. The melting of the snow coinciding with the heavy spring rains turns them into raging torrents, fumare. Silting over the fertile lands in the valleys and occasional landslides in the mountain country, where extensive tracks are nearly bare of vegetation, especially the rivers around Bologna, which in 1897 again caused damage in excess of one million dollars, are dreaded. Forest conditions. Situated similarly to Greece as regards accessibility and climate and similarly torn by wars and political strife and in unstable conditions for centuries, Italy has in proportion to population, if not to area, reduced her forest resources even more than Greece. Less than one-third of an acre per capita remains with a total of somewhat over 12 million acres or about 17% of the land area and this includes much useless brushland over two million acres. Apparently, if the uncertain statistics may be relied upon, a reduction of several million acres has taken place since 1870. Some 15 million acres of wasteland and swamps offer ample opportunity for increasing this forest area without infringing on the 42 million acres of usefully employed agricultural soil. Of the forest area, 25% is to be found in the Alps, about 50% on the Appennines, 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% wooded. And on Sardinia, which, with nearly 45% 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 Appennines and remote plateaus, 4.5 million acres, and of a few special places on which now and then even magnificent remains 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 1,200 feet are studded with olives, cork, and evergreen oak. Ocea growing is here also quite extensively practised. In the mountains, above the 2,700 foot level, conifer forest composed of Pinus silvestris, and Lariscio, and Avae's pinktonata, has been reduced to less than 7% of the whole, mixed conifer and deciduous forest represents 4%, the bulk being a deciduous forest of oak, several species, and beech with chestnut. 48% of the forest area is in copis, sedio, and of the 52% of high forest, the bulk is managed under selection system, a skelter, a small part under clearing system, at Alto Fusto, although management can hardly be said to exist except in small groves. The 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, 80% of which was saw material, in addition to $2 million of wood manufactures, while nearly $5 million worth was exported in the last named year, mostly cork, casks, thin boxboards, 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, $223 million cubic feet firewood, valued at $4.1 million, $106 million cubic feet charcoal, worth $3.6 million, and byproducts to the large amount of $6.4 million, altogether a little less than $17.6 million. Firewood and charcoal, which represent over 80% of the product, are of course furnished by coppers, and in addition by the pallarded material, almost the only fuel to be had. The ownership of the forest area is for the greater part private, 53%, and communal, over 43%. The state owning a little over 400,000 acres, less than 4%. 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% 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 the 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 brigadieres 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 AD, until the end of the 18th century, Italy had been the victim of war and strife with neighbours or within its borders, being divided into numberless commonwealths, almost each city being independent. Hence no economic improvements could take place until, under the influence 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 Immanuel during the years 1859-1870, 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 day 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 18th 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 caste, see page 173. Florence too managed to prevent the deforestation of the summit of her mountains until the beginning of the 18th century, and in other republics, kingdoms, and duchies, similar efforts at forest administrations existed. Yet Genoa, which in Strabo's time was the principal timber market of Italy, had by 1860 nearly all its mountain slopes denuded. Before the general legislation for all Italy was enacted, there were at least a dozen laws and operations in the various provinces. In Lombardi, the law of 1811, in Naples the law of 1862, in Rome of 1827, in Umbria of 1805, in Bologna of 1829, in Tuscany of 1829, in Piedmont of 1833, 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 and of forest policy were discussed. The academies of Florence, Milan, Modena, Palermo, and Pissarro offered premiums for reforesting of mountains, for popular treatises on silver culture. A forestry journal came into being furthering the propaganda. In 1860 a very well-written account of present conditions of forestry in production of sulphur in Sicily, a collection of reports was published in Shiro. In 1860 also an investigation of forest conditions in each province was ordered by royal decree and propositions for their improvement were called for, which led to legislative proposals introduced in 1862 and legislation enacted in 1863. The law of 1863 still treated each province independently, forest inspectors for each province and for Naples and 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 enforced in part with modifications enacted in 1886. The final unification of the country, as far as legislative unity is concerned, was completed in 1877 and in that year the first general forest law for all Italy was also enacted. This law, which is mainly in view the protective influence of forest cover as a factor in the public welfare, leaving all private property not falling under the character of protective forest entirely free, established provincial forest commissions, conservation boards, 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 government property, an engineer appointed by the governor and three members chosen by the provincial council. In addition, each communal council was to send one member to take part in the deliberations of the board as far as his particular commune was interested. By this law the country is divided into two sections vertically, namely the territory above the limit of Chestnut and that below this limit, the latter representing the farming country, the territory above being unfit for agricultural use. To the former, the restrictions of the law apply as a rule, terreni sogherti el vincolo forestale ban forest, to the latter as exception, namely whether removal of forest or brush cover might cause landslides or affect stream flow or health conditions unfavorably. The Chestnut limit naturally varies in different parts, but generally speaking lies between 1,800 and 2,000 feet elevation. The determination of these areas was to be made by the provincial forest committees, and it is significant to note that in these the state forest administration did not have the majority. The territory under restriction was in 1887 after various revisions established as comprising 7.5 million acres of forest and 2.5 million acres of brush and waste, nearly 71% of the forest area being thus placed under restriction, leaving 2.5 million acres of forest and over 2 million of brush and waste outside the working of the law. These latter areas are left entirely without restrictions, except as general police regulations apply. The execution of the law and regulations is left to the state forest department with an organisation of forest guards, some 3,000 in 1883, appointed by the prefect of the province with the advice of the forestry commission, but acting under the state forest administration. Their pay was to come to the extent of two thirds from the communes, the other third from the provincial treasurer. In the forests placed under the law, clearing and agricultural use is forbidden. Fellings and cultures must be made under direction of the committee. No compensation is made for this limitation in use, except where hygienic influence was the basis for placing the forest under ban. If the regulations of the commissions had been observed to their full extent, all would have been well in time, but it is evident from subsequent legislative efforts that the execution of the laws was not what could be desired. Political exigencies required leniency in the application of the law. An interesting report on the results of the first Quinquennium shows that during that time 170,000 acres were cleared, over 40,000 without permission, and by 1900 it was estimated deep forestation had taken place on about 5 million acres. Wrangling over the classification of the lands under ban has continued until the present, and local authorities have continued to favour private as against public interest, to withdraw lands from the operation and to wink at disregard of the law. Moreover, rights of user to dead wood, pastureage, goats are by law excluded, and other privileges continue to prevent improvement, although several laws to affect their extinction had been passed. The devastating floods of 1882 led to much agitation, and upon a report of a special commission in 1886, the law of 1874 which had obligated the communities to reforest their wastelands within five years or else to sell was revived, extending the term of obligatory reforestation in the endangered sections to ten years. By that time, out of 800,000 acres originally declared as requiring reforestation, not more than 40,000 acres had been planted, but the acreage involved had also been gradually scaled down by the forest committees to 240,000 acres. The report, on the other hand, found that the area needing rebuicement was at least 500,000 acres, requiring an expenditure of 12 million dollars. The law of 1877 did not contemplate enforced reforestation of ban forests. It sought to accomplish this by empowering either the Department of Agriculture or the provinces or the communities or special associations to expropriate for the purpose of reforestation. Results were nil. A revision and broadening of the law led to the General Rebuicement Act of 1888 which has in view the correction of torrents, fixing of mountain slopes and sand dunes, one of the best laws of its kind in existence anywhere. The principal features of the law are obligatory rebuicement of mountains and sand dunes according to plans and under direction of the Department of Agriculture, the areas to be designated by the Department with approval or disapproval of the forest committees, contribution to the extent of two-fifths, finally raised to two-thirds, of the expense by the Government, expropriation where owners do not consent or fail to carry out the work as planned, right to reclaim property by payment of costs and interest or else sale by Government, right of the Department to regulate and restrict pasture but compensation to be paid to restricted owners, encouragement of co-operative planters associations. The area to be reforested was estimated at somewhat over 500,000 acres and the expense at over $7 million. The execution of the law was not any stricter than before. In 1900 the Secretary of Agriculture reports that the laws do not yet receive effective application. The difficulty of determining what is and what is not necessary to reforest, what is and what is not absolute forest soil, made ostensibly the greatest trouble and occasion delay. But financial incapacity and political influences bidding for popularity are probably the main cause of the inefficiency. Meanwhile the Forest Department tried to promote reforestation by giving premiums from its scanty appropriation and distributing from its 130 acres of nurseries during the years from 1867 to 1899, some 46 million plants and over 500 pounds of seed and furnishing advice free of charge. In 1897 again a commission was instituted to formulate new legislation. This commission reported in 1902 declaring that all accessible forests were more or less devastated, accentuating the needs of water management and proposing a more rigorous definition of banned forests, a strict supervision of communal forests and the management of private properties under working plans by accredited foresters or else under direct control of the Forest Department, the foresters to be paid by the State, which is to recover from the owners. It was found that in the past 35 years of the 125,000 acres needing reforestation urgently, only 58,300 acres had been planted at an expense of $1,340,000. In 1910 conditions seemed not to have much improved, for again a vigorous attempt at reorganization and improvement on the law of 1877 was made by the Minister of Agriculture, so far without result. It is to be noted that Italy is perhaps the only country where forest influence on health conditions was legally recognized by the laws of 1877 and 1888. The belief that deforestation of the Maramne, the marshy lowlands between Pisa and Naples, had produced the malarial fever which had rampant here, led the trappist monks of the cloister at Trefontaine to make plantations of Eucalyptus, beginning in 1870, the state assisting by cessations of land for the purpose. A commission appointed to investigate the results in 1881 threw doubt on the effectiveness of the plantation, finding the observed change in health conditions due to the improvement of drainage, and lately the mosquito has been recognized as the main agency in propagating the fever. The new propositions, however, did not any more recognize this claimed influence as a reason for public intervention. Incidentally, it may be stated that to two Italians is due the credit of having found the true cause of salubriousness of forest air, namely in the absence of pathogenic bacteria. 3. Education and Literature The first forest school was organized by Ballestrieri, who had studied in Germany at the agricultural school near Turin about 1848, transferred to the Technical Institute in Turin in 1851. This school continued until 1869 and from 1863 on had been recognized by the state, assuring its graduates' employment since state service. In 1869 the state established a forest school of its own, Institut Forestale, at Valembrosa, near Florence, with a three years course, since 1886, four years, and in 1900 with 11 professors and 40 students. In spite of the state's subvention of 8,500 dollars it appears that some peculiar economies are necessary for owing to the absence of stoves the school is closed from November 1st to March 1st. In spite of the existence of this school the state service is recruited also from men who have not passed through this school. The legislative propositions brought forward in 1910 also provide for transfer of this school to Florence, leaving only the experiment station in Valembrosa and also for raising the standard of instruction. At the same time however there was at the Old Institution ordered a rush course to be finished in 15 months since it appeared that not enough foresters were in existence to carry out the proposed reorganization. In 1905 the School of Silver Culture for Forest Guards was instituted in Citigale, the course being 9 months. Besides the technical school at Valembrosa agricultural schools have chairs of forestry or albora culture, as for instance the Royal School at Portici. As an educational feature the introduction of Arbor Day in 1902 La Festa di Alberti should also be mentioned. The existence of a forest school naturally produces a literature. While a considerable number of popular booklets attempts the education of the people who are the owners of the forest there is no absence of professional works. Among these should be mentioned di Berenge's Selvi Culture, a very complete work which also contains a brief history of forestry in the Orient, Greece and Italy. G. Colossemoni's Manuel d'Art Forestale 1864 and the earlier Cienze Silvana by Dondi 1829 are encyclopedias of inferior quality. In 1859 R. Mathi, a private forester began to publish the Revista Forestale del Regno d'Italia, an annual review for the purpose of popularizing forestry in Italy afterwards changed into a monthly which continued for some time under subventions from the government. A number of propagandist forestry associations were formed at various times publishing leaflets or journals. One of these, L'Alp, a monthly in 1902. In 1910 the two leading societies combined into a federation from Montebusse d'Enti Affini merging also the Revista Forestale Italiana with L'Alp which serves both propagandist and professional needs. End of Section 20 Section 21 of a brief history of forestry This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org A Brief History of Forestry by Bernard Fornow Section 21, Spain Poor Spain is the expression which comes to the lips of everybody who contemplates the economic conditions of this once so powerful nation almost the ruler of the world. Once under the beneficent dominion of the Saracens, a paradise where as a Roman author puts it nilotiosum nihil sterile in Hispania It has become almost a desert through neglect, indolence, ignorance, false pride, lack of communal spirit, despotism of church and misrule by corrupt bureaucracy. With the exception of a narrow belt along the seashore, the whole of the Iberian peninsula is a vast high messa plateau or table-land 1,500 to 3,000 feet above sea level traversed by lofty mountain chains or sierres, five or six in number, running parallel to each other, mainly in a westerly and southwestly direction. These divide the plateau into as many plains, treeless and for the most part arid, exposed to cold blasts in winter and burning up in summer. They are frequently subjected to severe droughts which sometimes have lasted for months, bringing desolation to country and people. The rivers, as they usually do in such countries similar to our arid plains, form canyons and aroyos, and being uncertain in their water stages, none of them are navigable although hundreds of miles long but useful for irrigation on which agriculture relies. The great mineral wealth has made Spain the California of the Carthaginians and it is still its most valuable resource. Spain awakened to civilization through the visits of Phoenicians and Carthaginians followed by the Romans. During the first centuries of the Christian era, there occurred one of the several periods of extreme prosperity when a supposed population of 40 million exploited the country. After the dark days of the Gothic domination, a second period of prosperity was attained for the portion which came under the sway of the Moors or Saracens, 711 to 1000 AD, who made the desert bloom and his irrigation works are still the mainstay of agriculture at present. Centuries of warfare and carnage to re-establish Christian kingdoms still left the country rich, when in 1479 the several kingdoms were united into one under Ferdinand and Isabella and the Moors were finally driven out altogether 1492. This kingdom persisted in the same form as the present time with only a short period as a republic, 1873. Spain was among the first countries to have a constitution. After the conquest of the Moors and with the discovery of America again a period of prosperity set in for the then 20 million people, but through oppression by state and church inquisition which also led to the expulsion of the Jews and large emigration to America. The prosperity of the country was destroyed, the population reduced to 10 million 1800 and the conditions of character and government created which are the cause of its present desolation. Since the beginning of the century the population has increased to near 18 million but financial bankruptcy keeps the government inefficient and unable to accomplish reforms even if the people would let it have its way. 1. Forest conditions It has been a matter of speculation whether Spain was or was not once heavily wooded, see page 11. In Roman times only the province of La Manca is reported as being unforested and in the 13th and 14th centuries extensive forest zones are still recorded. The character of the country at present and the climate both resembling so much our own arid plains make it questionable to what extent the forest descended from the mountain ranges which were undoubtedly well wooded. At present the forest is mainly confined to the higher mountains. The best is to be found in the Pyrenees and their continuation the Cantambrian mountains. The area of actual forest Boscis is not known with precision since in the official figures mere potential forest i.e. brush and wasteland is included Montes and the area varies i.e. diminishes through new clearings of which the statistics do not keep account. Moreover the statistics refer only to the public forests leaving out the state and private forest areas if any. In 1859 this area was reported as over 25 million acres or 20% of the land area 196,000 square miles. In 1885 the acreage had been reduced to about 17.5 million acres and in 1900 about 16 million acres or 13% of the land area remained as public forest and the total was estimated at somewhat over 20 million acres. The following peculiar classification published in 1874 gives in round figures at once an insight into the meaning of Montes and the probable condition of the public forest area. State reserves 865,000 acres saleable state property 4,550,000 acres public institute forest 20,000 acres communal forest 9,860,000 acres open commons for wood and pasture 1,880,000 acres common pasture for draft animals 425,000 acres total 17,600,000 acres An estimate of the actual forest timber and coppers does not exceed 12 million acres for a population of 18 million or 0.7 acres per capita. The latest official figures claim property around 600,000 acres and municipal institutional property 11.5 million acres these constituting the public forests. According to official classification these public forests are to the extent of 5.3 million acres high forest 3 million coppers the balanced brushwoods. In spite of this evident lack of wood material except for firewood or charcoal the importations in 1903 did not exceed 6.5 million dollars accentuating the absence of industrial development the official statement of imports reports 6.5 million dollars more than the above figure but this includes horses and cattle enumerated as forest products, products of the Montes. These also figure in the exportations of 15 million dollars which to the extent of one half consists of cork some 5 million dollars from 630,000 acres and tan bark while chestnuts filberts and esparto furnish the balance in 1908 the imports of lumber and staves alone amounted to 7,382,000 dollars. In 1882 all the public forests produced from wood sales only 900,000 dollars but the value of the products taken by rights of user was estimated nearly twice that amount. In 1910 the average income of the forest was having average for the decade in the neighbourhood of 2 million dollars and the expense approximately 1 million and net yield of about 30 cents per acre on the area involved resulting the total cost being 5.7 million cubic feet annually. The forest flora and its distribution is very similar to that of Italy and is described fully in two volumes prepared by a special commission appointed for this purpose 2. Development of forest policy Spain is noted for its comprehensive legislation without execution it is also known that official reports are really trustworthy so that what appears on paper is by no means always found in reality hence all statements must be accepted with reservations The forest laws of Spain are somewhat similar to those of Italy yet show less appreciation of the needs of technical forest culture the value of forest resources and need of economy in their use was indeed recognised early recommendations for their conservative use are recorded from the 13th century on an ordinance of Pedro I in 1351 imposed heavy fines upon forest destroyers Ferdinand V in 1496 expressed alarm at the progressing devastation and in 1518 we found a system of forest guards established and even ordinances ordering reforestation of wastelands which were again and again repeated during the century in 1567 and 1582 notes of alarm at the continuing destruction proved that these ordinances had no effect the same complaints and fears are expressed by the rulers during the 17th and 18th centuries without any effect of action in 1748 Ferdinand VI placed all forests under government supervision but in 1812 the Cortes of Cadiz under the influence of the spirit of the French Revolution rescinded these orders and abolished all restrictions an awakening to the absolute necessity of action seems not to have arrived until about 1833 when a law was enacted and an ordinance issued at great length defining the means of Montes and instituting in the court of civil engineers a forest inspection at the same time a special school was to be established in Madrid this last proposition does not seem to have materialised for in 1840 we find that several young men were sent to the forest school at Darant, Germany no doubt under the influence of these men on their return backed by a society of Madrid a commission to formulate a forest law was instituted in 1846 and in the same year carrying out ordinances of 1835 and 1843 a forest school was established at Via Viquiosa, the Odon later 1869 transferred to the Escuriel near Madrid this school under semi-military organisation first with a three-year later a four-year course and continually improved and enlarged in its curriculum one director and 13 professors in 1900 used the pride of the Spanish foresters to all appearances deservedly so it was organised after German models by Bonando de Torre y Reyes as first director the creation of a forest department however, Guepo de Montes had to wait until 1853 this department under the Minister of Public Works now under the Minister of Agriculture is a close corporation made up of the graduates of the school as Inginerios de Montes acceptance into which is based upon graduation and four-year service in the forest department as assistance besides the performance of some meritorious work the school stands in close relation to the department service the first work of the new administration was a general forest survey to ascertain conditions and especially to determine which of the public forests under the laws of 1855 and 1859 it was desirable to retain the investigation showed that there was more forest defined as in the above classification than had been supposed but that it was in even worse condition than had been known the public forests, i.e. those owned by the state the communities and public institutions were divided into three classes according to the species by which formed which was the easiest way of determining their location as regards altitude and their public value namely the coniferous forest and deciduous oak and chestnut forests which were declared inalienable the forests of ash, alder, willow, etc naturally located in the lower levels therefore without interest to the state which were declared saleable and an intermediate third class composed of cork, oak and evergreen oak whose status as the property of sale was left in doubt in 1862 a revision of this classification left out this doubtful class adding it and the forest areas of the first class which were not at least 250 acres in extent to the saleable property the first class which was to be reserved was found to comprise nearly 17 million acres of which 1.2 million was owned by the state whilst the saleable property was found to be about half that area ever since a constant wrangle and commotion which kept up regarding the classification and repeated attempts, sometimes successful have been made by one faction usually led by the minister of finance to reduce the public forest area opposed by another faction under the lead of the forest administration which was formed again and again to reclassify in 1883 the alienable public forest area was by decree placed under the minister of finance the inalienable part remaining under the minister of public works momentum very much the same as it was in the United States until recently the public debt and immediate financial needs of the corporations gave the incentive for desiring the disposal of forest property and to satisfy this demand it was ordered in 1878 that all receipts from the state property and 20% of the receipts from communal forests were to be applied towards the extinguishment of the debt the ups and downs in this struggle to keep the public forest intact were accentuated on the one hand by the pressing needs of taking care of the debt on the other hand by drought and flood thus in 1874 the sale in annual installments of over 4.5 million acres in the hands of the minister of finance was ordered but the floods of the same year were so disastrous causing 7 million dollars damage, 760 deaths 28,000 homeless being followed by successive droughts that a reversal of sentiment was experienced which led to the enactment of a reimbursement law in 1877 this law having in view better management of communal properties ordered with all sorts of unnecessary technical details the immediate reforestation of all wastelands in the public forests creating for that purpose a core of 400 cultivators to furnish the funds for this work the communities were to contribute 10% of the value the forest products they sold or were entitled to but funds were not forthcoming and by 1895 under this law only 21,000 acres had been reforested three fourths by sowing the financial results of the management of the public forests although the forest department probably did the best it could under the circumstances had indeed not been reassuring in 1861 a deficit of 26,000 dollars was recorded in 1870 600,000 dollars worth of material was sold 1.3 million dollars worth given away and 700,000 dollars worth destroyed altogether by fire and theft it was estimated that 15% of the production was lost in 1885 this loss was estimated at 25% when the net income had attained to 15 cents per acre or on the 17.5 million acres to less than 3 million dollars when it is considered that the governors of provinces and their appointees beside the village authorities had also a hand in the administration it is no wonder that the forest department was pretty nearly helpless while under the law of 1863 the department was specially ordered to regulate the management of communal forests and to gauge the cut to the increment the political elements in the administration which appointed the forest guards made the regulations mostly nougatory at last in 1900 a new era seems to have arrived a thorough reorganization was made which lends hope for a better future the technical administration was divorced from the political influence and placed under the newly created Minister of Agriculture the machinery of the Cuerpo de Montes was remodeled this consists now of one chief inspector general four division chiefs ten inspector generals for field inspection 50 chief engineers of district managers 185 assistants 142 foresters and guards the latter now appointed by the departments instead of the governors and not all as formally chosen from veteran soldiers the better financial showing referred to above was the result in 1910 a special rebuisement service the Cervicio Hidrologicale Partistal was also placed on a new footing the country being divided into ten districts for this purpose and an engineer placed in charge of each but from a statement that in 1910 of some 300,000 acres planned to be recovered only 31,000 had been completed it may be inferred that financial difficulties still retired the work private forests which had been without any interference were in 1908 placed under government control so far as located within a defined protective zone Dona Protectora da Socratica such must be managed under plans provided by the forest service and in case of refusal on the part of owners, expropriation proceedings are provided but the money for taking advantage of this provision would probably not be in the treasury indeed, according to professor Miguel del Campo at the Esquerre Alfares school results so far are nil since 1896 popular education is attempted through arbor days various associations fostering the idea in 1904 La Fiesta del Arbor was made a national holiday and premiums are distributed for plantations made on that day the Revista de Montes a semi-official monthly journal began its publication in 1877 and serves the purpose of propaganda as well as the professional needs a considerable book literature is also developed end of section 21 section 22 of a brief history of forestry this is a LibriVox recording while LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org a brief history of forestry by Bernard Fernau section 22 the Mediterranean Peninsula Portugal the small kingdom which occupies the west coast of the Iberian Peninsula with 34,000 square miles and 6 million people is in many respects similar to Spain except that the larger portion is fertile being situated in the littoral region the climate less excessive and the people somewhat more enterprising not much more than one half of the country however is utilized nearly 15,000 square miles being waste three sections or zones are recognized the northern bounding on Spain which is mainly mountainous but also contains extensive sand dunes is the best wooden the central which is hilly and less well wooded contains in extremadora and beira one of the most desolate regions of Europe and at the same time the best managed forest the southern the richest in farmlands with semi-tropic climate in flora the zone of evergreen broadleaf flora about 10% of the land area or 4 million acres are under forest although 2 million more are wooded with olive fig almond plantations or open woodlands in rushwood of the actual forest area the state owns only 82,000 acres 30,000 of which reforested areas or sand dunes in process of recovery the composition is nearly one half of pine pinus maratima and pinea one fifth cork oak with pastures a little over one fifth other greenwood oaks with pastures and the balance chestnut and deciduous oaks the fact of the extensive private ownership and the reference to the pastures and the enumeration of forest areas suffice to give an idea of the condition of most of them the oak forest is also to a large extent still used for hog raising besides the native forest areas there are in existence a number of parks and plantations of exotics the climate of portugal in parts resembling that of california and permitting a wide range of introductions even tropical there is perhaps no worse such a good opportunity of seeing the most varied forest, flora and fine development as the forest parks of montserrat of busaco and in the various botanical gardens extensive eucalyptus and acacia plantations some 1500 acres of the economic value near avrantes are the enterprise of a private land owner W.C. Tate the deficiency of wood supplies is covered by an importation of about $1.5 million against which there is an export of a little over half a million mainly cooperage stock the best developed forest industry is the growing of cork giving rise to an export of around $5 million and more production is also developed the first attempt at a real management of the state's property dates from 1868 a regular organization however did not take place until 1872 when under the director general of commerce and industries a forest administrator with a technical staff of three division chiefs corresponding to the three sections of country and six forest masters were installed present the staff of the inspector consists of eight technically educated assistants each in charge of some branch of service under these there are a number of field agents or supervisors some 14 and 1903 with less education and under foresters and guards the only really well managed forest the pride of the Portuguese foresters is the forest of Leira in extremadora a planted pine 25,000 acres on which over 50 men of various grades are employed with naval stored distilleries impregnating works and saw mills its management natural seed tree system dates from 1892 besides attending to the management of the state forest the committee composed of the administrator and some of the technical staff were to examine the country and decide what parts needed reforestation the result of a very full report 1882 a re-boisement law was enacted under what some of the sand dunes were fixed in 1903 a more thorough organization of this work took place which with liberal appropriations promises more rapid progress the law recognizes two ways of placing private property under a forestry regime namely obligatory and facultive or voluntary territory in the mountains and on sand dunes may have deemed by the superior agricultural council as requiring it from the point of view of public utility be placed under the regime by royal decree or else private owners may as to have their properties so placed either merely securing police protection obligating themselves to keep the property wooded or working under a working plan or reforestation plan provided by the forest service in either case the owner is obliged to pay the guards and at the rate of about two cents per acre for the working plans planting material is furnished free or at cost price an exemption from taxes for 20 years is granted for reforested lands expropriation of waste lands declared as of public interest is provided if owners object to enforced reforestation 75,000 acres have so far been placed under the forestry regime there are provisions for forestry education in the school of agriculture at Lisbon or the education for the higher positions in the forest service may be secured at German or French forest schools and some have secured it at Val Ambrosa end of section 22 section 23 of a brief history of forestry this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org a brief history of forestry by Bernard Fernau Great Britain and her colonies historical inquiries concerning forests and forest laws by Percival Lewis 1811 gives a full account of the practices in the old banned forests English forests and forest trees 1853 anonymous gives an interesting account of the old forests and their history our forests in Woodlands by John Nisbit 1900 has a chapter on the historical development of forest laws William Schlich manual of forestry volume 1 third edition 1906 brings in convenient form an amount of conditions in various parts of the British Empire Schwabach, Forstliche Zustande in England Zeitschrift für Frust und Jagdwesen 1903 is an account of forest conditions from the pen of a practical observer B. Ribbentrop forestry in India 1900 also various reports of the forest departments of the various British colonies it is a remarkable fact that the nation which can boast of the most extensive forest department in one of her colonies has at home not yet been able to come to an intelligent conception even not to speak of application of proper forest policy or forest economy one of the English authorities on the subject writes still in 1900 with so much land of poor quality lying uncultivated in many parts of the British Isles the apathy shown toward forestry in Britain is one of the things that it is impossible to understand if we should venture to seek for an explanation we would find it in geographical and physical conditions but still more in personal and political characteristics historically developed such as also in the United States make progress of forestry slower than it would otherwise be due to her insular position with which in part the development of her naval supremacy is connected England can readily supply her needs by importations situated within the influence of the Gulfstream the climate is much milder than her northern location would indicate and is in no respect excessive the topography is most gentle except in Scotland and Wales and the river flow even all the year hence the absence of forest cover has not been felt in its physical influences Britons, Picts, Scots, Scandinavians Anglo-Saxons and Normans are the elements which have amalgamated to make the English people through endless warfare and political struggle the three countries England Scotland and Ireland had by the year 1600 come under one ruler although final legislative union with Scotland did not take place until 1707 and with Ireland not until 1800 theoretically forming a constitutional monarchy practically an aristocracy with republican tendencies the history of the islands has been a struggle first to establish race supremacy then to secure the ascendancy of the nobility and landholders over the king and the commoners in which the former have been more successful than the Barons in other parts of Europe politically the Englishman is an individualist jealous of his private interests and unwilling to submit to government interference for the public welfare hence state forestry which is finally the only solution of the forestry problem appears objectionable commercial and industrial enterprise rather than economic development appeals to him the practical issue of the day rather than the demands of a future and systematic preparation for the same occupy his mind he lacks as Mr. Rosbury points out scientific method and hence is wasteful moreover he is conservative and self-satisfied beyond the citizens of any other nation hence if all the wisdom of the world point new ways he will still cling to his accustomed in the matter of having commissions appointed to investigate and report and leaving things to continue in unsatisfactory condition he reminds one of Spanish delatoriness this would appear to us the reasons for the difficulty which the would be reformers experience in bringing about economic reforms one forest conditions Caesars and Strabo's descriptions agree that Great Britain was a densely wooded country the forest area seems to have been reduced much less through long continued use then through destruction by fire and pasture and by subsequent formation of moors so that it is now accepting that of Portugal the smallest of any European nation in proportion to total area and accepting that of Holland in proportion to population of the one hundred and twenty one thousand three hundred and eighty square miles which Great Britain and Ireland represent less than four percent or three million acres eight hundred and eighty thousand in Scotland three hundred and three thousand in Ireland are forested one fourteenth of an acre per capita but there are nearly thirty three percent of wastelands namely over twelve million acres of heaths moors and other wastelands capable of forest growth and another twelve million acres partly or doubtfully so while the agricultural land and crops and pasture comprises about forty eight million acres the waste areas reforested it is believed could meet the consumption now supplied by importations notably in Scotland extensive heaths and moors of many hundred square miles in the Northern Highlands and the Grampian Mountains well wooded in olden times the woods having been eradicated supposedly for strategic reasons are now without farms or forests and are mainly used for shooting preserves in the last thirty years the land under tillage has continuously decreased and now represents less than twenty five percent of the whole land area grasslands occupying thirty eight percent the agricultural land as well as the mountain and heathlands are to the largest extent owned by large proprietors in eighteen seventy six eleven thousand persons owned seventy two percent of the total area of the British Islands with the exception of sixty seven thousand the entire forest area is owned privately and that mostly by large landed proprietors there being no communal ownership except that the municipality of London owns a forest area a pink forest devoted to pleasure and the water board of Liverpool has begun to plant some of its catchment basins practically the entire wood supply is imported and the rate of importation is rapidly increasing while in eighteen sixty four it was three point four million tons in eighteen ninety two seven point eight million tons worth ninety two million dollars in eighteen ninety nine ten million tons and a hundred and twenty five million dollars in nineteen oh two it had grown to what hundred and thirty eight million dollars and in nineteen oh six to hundred and forty one million seven hundred million cubic feet in which seven point four million of wood manufacturers against which an export of nineteen million mainly wood manufacturers must be offset this makes England the largest wood importer in the world Germany coming next and the amount paid to other countries exceeds the value of her pig iron output nearly ninety percent of the import is coniferous material from Sweden Russia and Canada the home product mostly oak ties mine props et cetera satisfies about one sixth of the consumption in addition to timber and lumber over ten million dollars of wood pulp and sixty million dollars of byproducts are imported the total wood consumption per capita is between twelve and fourteen cubic feet half of what it was fifty years ago pine is the only native conifer of timber value and oak is the most important native deciduous tree found mostly in coppers or in old over mature straggling pasture woods compact the larger forest areas are entirely absent but there are many small plantations and parks for while Englishmen have not been foresters they have been active tree planters and the mild climate has permitted the introduction of many exotics especially American conifers most of these plantings have been for park and game purposes the most noted forest plantations are found in Scotland among them the large plantations of Atoll begun in seventeen twenty-eight of at one time over ten thousand acres the Ducal woodlands now covering over twenty thousand acres the pinery of twenty-five thousand acres belonging to the Countess of Seelfield the best managed forest property partly in natural regeneration and others but these plantations too are mostly widely spaced and trimmed hence not producing timber of much value so that timber of British production is usually ruled out by architects two development of forest policies the Saxons and Normans were primarily hunters and this propensity to the chase has impressed itself upon their forest treatment into modern times the Teutonic Saxons undoubtedly brought with them the feudal and communal institutions of the Germans under which territory for the King's special pleasure in the chase was set aside as forest and this exclusive right in privilege was on other territory extended to the vassals while the commoners were excluded from the exercise of hunting privileges on these grounds the Normans not only increased the lands under ban but they increased also in a despotic manner the penalties and punishments for infraction of the forest laws and enforced them more stringently than was done on the continent the feudal system was developed to its utmost besides forests in which the king alone had exclusive rights and in which a code of special laws administered under special courts was applied there was set aside chases hunting reserves without the pale of the forest laws parks smaller enclosed hunting grounds and warrens privileged by royal grant or prescription as preserves for small game whole villages were wiped out or lived almost in bondage to satisfy this taste for sport in the forests of which in Elizabeth's time not less than 75 distinct ones were enumerated withdrawing an immense area from free use both virt and venison would in game belonged to the king a host of officers stewards verterers foresters regarders adjusters would words exercised police duties and oppressed and ground the people by extortion while special courts wood moat swain moat court of justice seat enforced the savage and cruel laws the first of these laws was supposed to date from canute the great in 1016 that was eventually found to be a forgery perpetrated by William I in order to lend historical color to his assertion of forest rights a partial reduction of forests and a modification of the cruelty and loneliness of the laws was obtained by the Charter de Foresta in 1225 which formulated the laws into a code and again by the forest ordinance of 1306 but not until 1483 under Edward the fourth where the people living within forests permitted to cut and sell timber and to fence in for seven years portions of the reserve territory the last territory was a forest did in other words withdrawn for the purposes of the chase under Henry the eighth but he had to secure the consent of the free holders the long parliament in 1641 stopped at least the extension of forests and modified the application of the laws to a more reasonable degree the forest laws are still on the statutes but have fallen into despotude the last forest court of justice seat was held under Charles the first the forests themselves have also entirely vanished some being abolished as late as Queen Victoria's time by active parliament but the last action under the forest laws was had in 1862 when the Duke of Atoll tried to establish his right as forester for the crown a full account of the forest laws is contained in menwoods volume title page of which is here reproduced they treat us of the laws of the forest we're in is declared not only those laws as they but also the original and beginning of forests and what a forest is in his own proper nature and we're in the same doth differ from the chase a park or a warren with all such things as our incident or belonging therein too with their swirl proper terms of art also a treatise of the pure lay declaring what pure lay is how the same first began what a pure lay man may do how he may hunt and use his own poor lay how far he may pursue and follow after his chase together with the limits and bounds as well of the forest as the pure lay collected as well out of the common laws and statutes of this land as also out of sundry learned ancient authors and out of the assises of bickering and Lancaster by Ian manwood where unto are added the statutes of the forest, a treatise of the swirl officers of verterers, regarders and foresters, and courts of attachments, swanimoto and justice seat of the forest and certain principal cases judgments and entries of the assises of pickering and Lancaster never here too for printed for the public. London printed for the society of stationers anodominum 1615 cum pure lesio in scotland the same usages and laws existed only very much less rigorously enforced until in 1681 the extension of forests was discontinued by parliamentary act it will be understood that the term forest did not only distantly refer to woodland and that no economic policy had anything to do with the laws only incidentally was forest growth protected and preserved for the sake of the chase the same medieval policy which still largely animates the forest policy of the state of New York the woods outside the forest which had mainly served for the raising of hogs and for domestic needs experienced at various times unusual reduction by fire general monk among others laid waste large areas on the Scottish borderland in Cromwell's time the first serious inroads by extensive fellings occurred under Edward the third in the first half of the 14th century to enrich the treasury for the French wars again Henry the eighth in the 16th century when he sees the church properties for his own use turned them into cash a hundred years later James the first reduced the forest area specially in Ireland by his colonization schemes yet both Henry the eighth and James the first are on record as encouraging forest planting for utility Charles the first James the successor always in need of cash alienated many of the crown forests and turned them into cash besides extorting money through the forest courts during the revolution beginning in 1642 and during Cromwell's reign a licentious devastation of the confiscated or mortgage nobleman's woods took place finally under Charles a second to the needs for the Royal Navy forced attention to the reduction of wood supplies and as a result of the agitation to encourage the growth of timber a member of the newly formed Royal Society was deputed to prepare an essay which published in 1662 has become the classic work of English forest literature namely John Evelyn's Silva or a discourse of forest trees which has experienced eleven editions it should however be mentioned that an earlier writer whom Evelyn often quotes tougher before the reign of Elizabeth in 1526 published his five hundred points of husbandry a versification in which tree planting received attention ever since that time periodically and spasmodically the question of forestry has been agitated without much serious result from 1775 to 1781 the Society of Arts in London offered gold medals and prizes for tree planting and in the beginning of the 19th century a revival of our boro-cultural interest was experienced perhaps as a result of an interesting report by the celebrated Admiral Nelson on the mismanagement of the forest of Dean concerned for naval timber giving the incentive in which he recommended the planting of oak for investment at that time a surveyor general with an insufficient force was in charge of the crown for us in 1809 the management was placed under a board of three commissioners one of whom being a member of the Parliament was to be changed with the administration under this management the graft became so rampant that in 1848 a committee of the House of Commons was appointed whose report revealed the most astonishing rottenness placing a stigma on government management such as we still uncover in the United States from time to time a reorganization took place in 1851 at that time the royal forests and parks reduced in extent to about 200,000 acres showed a deficiency of $125,000 mostly to be sure occasioned by the parks there was then still a tribute of some $600 to be delivered to various personages as was the ancient usage at present there are some 115,000 acres classed as royal forest but only 67,000 acres are really forest consisting of more or less mismanaged woods under the administration not forest management of the commissioners of woods and forests with deputy surveyors in charge of the ranges although there are a few notable exceptions in the management it is to be noted that the same stupid ignorance which introduced the claws into the constitution of the state of New York was enacted into law in 1877 by the English Parliament forbidding in the new forest all cutting and planting in 1900 there existed just one planting plan made by the professional forester namely for a portion of the forest of Dean while now only two other state properties or two or three private estates are managed under working plans in 1887 a committee appointed to inquire into the administration of this property expressed itself most dissatisfied but a committee of parliament in 1890 whitewash the administration and reported that the management was satisfactory these committees as well as an earlier one in 1885 were also able to recommend measures for the advancement of forestry they laid in their recommendations the main stress upon education but no action followed and it can be said that the government has never done anything for the advancement of forestry in the home country whatever it may have done for the dependencies a departmental committee again reported in 1902 with all sorts of recommendations which have remained unheeded the interests of forestry as far as the government is concerned are at present committed to the board of agriculture the committee body created in 1889 from which this departmental committee was appointed there is now however a strong movement on foot led by foresters returned from India to commit the government to some action with reference to the wastelands and towards providing for educational means another committee appointed in 1908 to inquire into prospects of afforestation in Ireland reported in favor of acquiring 300,000 acres of wood 1000 acres of unplanted land dwelling especially on the benefit to be secured by providing employment and a check upon immigration of the rural population instead of acting upon this proposition the government redirected the royal commission on coast erosion which had issued its first report in 1907 to suspend its inquiry into the inroads of the sea and apply themselves to the inquiry as to whether in connection with unclaimed lands or otherwise it is desirable to make an experiment in afforestation as a means of increasing employment during periods of depression and how and by whom such experiment should be conducted in 1909 the royal commission on afforestation and coast erosion reported at length proposing the reforestation by a special commission of 9 million acres of wasteland at a rate of 75,000 or 150,000 acres a year to be acquired by purchase an elaborate plan which so far has remained without result the government although various committees have recommended it has remained also callous in respect to educational policy except that in 1904 the commissioners of woods and forests instituted a school one instructor and the forest of dean for the education of woodsmen and foremen as illustrative of the government's peculiar attitude to forest policy in general we may note a curious anachronism namely the act of 1894 which relieves railway companies from liability for damage from locomotive fires if they can prove that they have exercised all care although traction engines cannot offer this excuse the first attempt to secure educational facilities dates to 1884 when a chair of forestry was established in the royal engineering college at coopers hill an institution designed to prepare for service in India purely through private subscriptions another chair of forestry was instituted in 1887 at the university of edinburgh and several agricultural colleges noticeably that of syrinchester as well as the universities of cambridge and oxford had made provisions for teaching the subject in a way but outside of coopers hill no adequate education in forestry was obtainable in great britain until 1905 in 1905 the forest department in coopers hill was transferred to oxford the three years course one year to be spent in the forests of germany or other countries being as before designed mainly for aspirants to the indian forest service now besides oxford some nine other institutions offer courses in forestry the reason for this educational development being difficult to imagine the name of sir william schlicht a german forester and for some time the head of the indian forest department now in charge of this school is most prominently connected with the reform movement altogether forest management and civil cultural practice are still nearly unknown in england and until within a few years the useful idea of working plans had not yet penetrated the minds of owners of estates this apathy is no doubt in part due to the fact that the government is in the hands of the nobility who prefer to keep their shooting ranges and do not see even a financial advantage from turning them into forest as long as they can derive a rent of from 10 to 40 cents per acre for shooting privileges private endeavor has been active through the two arboric cultural societies the royal scotch founded in 1854 and the royal english beginning its labors in 1880 the transactions of these societies in annual or occasional volumes represented the current magazine literature on forestry since the monthly journal of forestry and estates management which began its career in London in 1877 transferred to Edinburgh in 1884 ceased to exist in 1885 at present a very well conducted quarterly journal of forestry started in 1907 by the royal english arboric cultural society replacing its transactions and that of the irish forestry association also the journal of the board of agriculture occasionally supply the needs of the continuously improving chances for development on forestry lines until within a short time the English professional book literature has been extremely meager although a considerable propagandist or boric cultural in general magazine literature exists shlish manual forestry first in three volumes published from 1889 to 1895 now in its second to fourth edition enlarged to five volumes is the most comprehensive publication another author deserving mention is John Nisbitt known for his studies in forestry 1894 who also in grafted continental silvicultural notions into later editions of James Brown's The Forrester an encyclopedic work of merit several german and french works have been translated into english notably K. Gaye the Forst Benutzung are Hess the Forst Schutz and here first Waldschutz John Krumby Brown's 16 volumes on forests and forestry in various countries may be mentioned among the propagandist literature the arbora cultural societies mentioned also make a brave effort to advance professional development of forestry in their publications end of section 23 recording by John Van Stan Savannah Georgia