592 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. 



tive importance of these occupations in the census of 1850, 1860 

 and 1870. 



The percentage of farmers seems to have greatly decreased 

 between 1850 and 1870, but a fair estimate cannot be made 

 since in the census of 1850 no distinction is made between farm- 

 ers and farm laborers ; that is, all are classed a5 farmers, irre- 

 spective of property. In the census of 1860 and 1870 this 

 distinction is made. This fact will also explain, at least in part, 

 the large increase in the laboring class between 1860 and 1870. 

 In comparing the towns whose boundary lines remain fixed, we 

 find that the percentage of farmers has increased in Benton, 

 'New Diggings and Shullsburg between 1850 and 1870, despite 

 the fact that farm laborers are included in 1850. The percent- 

 age of artisans is but 1.9 less than the percentage of farmers in 

 1850, while in 1870 tlie latter has increased 20.6 per cent. The 

 mining class, on the contrarv, has decreased. Wavne shows a 

 decrease in the farming class and the mining class disappears 

 after 1860, but the laboring class increases 41.8 per cent. 

 White Oak Springs and Willow Springs show so slight a 

 decrease between 1850 and 1870 in the farming dass that we 

 may conclude that had the census tabulations been made upon 

 the same basis in all three censuses, an increase would have been 

 shown. Mining declines in both these towns and the laboring 

 class increases. 



We see from the foregoing that La Fayette county is dis- 

 tinctly an agricultural region, though that particular industry 

 would seem to be on the decline. We should note that in the 

 to\^Tis of the mining district mining has given place to farming, 

 but the influence of the former occupation is shown in the lower 

 per capita of these towns.-^ The constant shifting of the bound- 

 ary lines of the various towns makes comparisons between all of 

 the towns impossible for the different census periods, and hence 

 the studv has not been as extensive as we would like. It has 

 been possible to compare an equal number of to^vns of the farm- 

 ing and mining regions, however, and these may be considered 

 typical for the entire county. 



iSee Table 2. 



