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 
countries ; thirdly the modern period, which exhibits the 
practical fruition of these changes. 
I. From Earuiest 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 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, Urgeschichte der ger ischen und r ischen Volker, 
1581, 
