750
ITALY
II. Forestry.
The forestry department is under the direction of the Ministry of Agricnltuve, Industry, and Commerce, with a council (consiglio forestale) consisting of the Director of Agriculture, the higher forestry inspectors, and a legal adviser. The executive of the department consists ofinspectors of various classes and 190 guards with 25 officers (brigadieri).
The forest area (exclusive of chestnut plantations) is about 4,093,000 hectares. The yield from the forests, including both those free from and those under the forest regulations (vincolo), is valued at about 88,000,000 lire, as follows : —
Cubic metres Lire
Useful timber . . 1,374,547 17,062,006
Firewood . . . 6,289,341 20,632,380
Charcoal . . . 3,019,148 18,133,294
Secondary produce, "j Quintals
excluding chest- V . 15,527,404 32,174,111
nuts . . J
Total . . 88,001,791
The values of produce, agricultural, animal, and forest, are in round num- bers— Cereals, fibres, wine, fruit, &c., 2,639,000,000 lire (average 1891-95); animals, wool, milk, cocoons, &c., 1,424,000,000 lire (1890); forest yield, 88,000,000 lire (1886), total, 4, 151, 000. 000 lire. The value of accessory agricul- tural produce, such as vegetables, fungi, poultry, eggs, &c., is not known, but the exports alone of such produce amount to about 80,000,000 lire annually.
III. Mines and Minerals.
The following table gives the production of the mines in 1896 : —
Mineral
Mines
Tons
Lire
Employes
Iron ore ....
Copper and manganese ore . Zinc ore ... ) Lead ore . . . \ Silver ore .
Gold ore .... Antimony ore Mercury ore . Tin ore and iron pyrites Mineral fuel (anthracite, &c. ) . Sulphur ore .... Salt, graphite, boric acid, petroleum, &c. .
Totals ....
15 21
77
8
15
45
3
6
28
509
76
203,966
102,298
118,171
33,705
640
7,659
5,086
14,305
45,728
276,197
2,738,057
2,539,863
2,325,844
7,490,645
4,477,523
536,254
853,008
302,950
737,850
544,124
1,981,861
23,876,393
3,302,790
1,271 1,691
I 10,344
646 457 314 446 705 2,205 24,775
1,956
803
—
48,969,105
44,810
The value of the mineral products was: — in 1878, 55,078,461 lire; 1888, 52,377,908; 1894, 52.042,605; 1895, 39,103,279 ; 1896, 48,969,105. The quarries of Italy employ about 30,000 men, of whom about 7,000 are employed in quarrying marble, the annual output of marble being valued at £600,000 sterling.
TV. Fisheries.
On December 31, 1896, the number of vessels and boats employed in fishing was 23,096, with an aggregate tonnage of 64,677. These numbers
