It would appear from the third volume of the Census
of England and Wales, that the total number of both sexes em- ployed on the land, which in 1871 ,was 1,153,544, and in 1881, 1,071,941, was in 1891, 980,278, showing a total decrease of 173,271 for the twenty years, in spite of the general increase of the population. Part of this decrease is due to the diminished employment of women and boys, which is probably pure good ; but the total figures certainly confirm the impression that the people are receding from agriculture. The movement is not rapid, but it consumes more than the whole natural increment of agricultural population, and it never stops. It would suggest something wrong with the tenure, but that the same process is observable in all European countries. The truth is that, as the popula- tions advance in intelligence, they grow sick of the least remunerative and most uncertain of all human employments. Agriculture is necessary, and therefore honourable; but it has, as work, no other attraction. ,
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