Settlement of Country. 25 



fifth period from about 1863, when, by the establishment 

 of experiment stations, a breakiag away from the merely 

 empiric basis to a more scientific foundation of forestry 

 practice was begim. 



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 

 countries ; thirdly the modern period, which exhibits the 

 practical fruition of these changes. 



I. From Earliest Times 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 knovm, 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, Prance, Spain, northern Italy, the 

 western part of Germany and the British Islands. 



* FELIX D AHN, Urgeschichie der germanischen und romanischen Volker^ 

 1881. 



