Settlement of Country. 25 



fifth period from about 1863, when, by the establishment 

 of experiment stations, a breaking away from the merely 

 empiric basis to a more scientific foundation of forestry 

 practice was begun. 



For our purposes we shall be satisfied with division 

 into three parts, namely : to the end of the middle ages, 

 when with the discoveries of America and other new 

 countries an enlargement of the world's horizon gave 

 rise to a change of economic conditions ; secondly to the 

 end of the eighteenth century-, when change of political 

 and economic thought altered the relation of peoples and 

 coimtries ; thirdly the modem period, which exhibits the 

 practical fruition of these changes. 



I. From Earliest TiSies to End of Middle Ages. 



Many of the present conditions, especially of owner- 

 ship, and the march of progress in the development both 

 of forest policy and forest management, can be under- 

 stood only with some knowledge of the early history 

 of the settlement of the country.* 



As is well known, Aryan tribes from central Asia had 

 more than a thousand years before Christ begun to over- 

 run the country. These belonged to the Keltic (Celtic) 

 or Gaelic race which had gradually come to occupy 

 partly or wholly, France, Spain, northern Italy, the 

 western part of Germany and the British Islands. 



* FELIX DAHN, Urgtschichte der germanischen und romanischen ydlker, 

 iSSi. 



