65 EXPEKIMEXT STATIOX EECORD. 



" The writers know of no other way in which so great an increase in the pro- 

 ductive power of the agricultiiral hinds of Wisconsin can be effected as by 

 drainage." 



RURAL ECONOMICS. 



Report on the decline in the agricultural population of Great Britain, 

 1881-1906, R. H. Rew (Bd. Affi: and Fisheries [Loiido),], 1906. pp. 1J,3, fiiys. 2, 

 map 1). — The census returns of Great Britain for the period 1881-1901 sliow a 

 decrease of 294.627 agricultural laborers, and the returns from this imiuiry, 

 which were secured from 248 correspondents, indicate " that since 1901 there 

 has been some further reduction in the number -of men employed on farms, but 

 that the diminution is proceeding at a slower rate than during the 10 or 20 

 years preceding that date." 



The causes assigned for this continuing decline in farm labor are the laying 

 down of arable land to grass, the use of improved machinery, the higher wages 

 and superior social advantages afforded by employment in other industries, a 

 deficiency of satisfactory housing accommodation, the few opportunities for 

 financial advancement, a deficiency of small holdings in some counties, and a 

 lack of money on the part of those who would take up small holdings. On the 

 other hand, encouragement for the future is found in the fact that farmers are 

 adapting themselves to changed conditions by taking up " the cultivation of 

 fruit and vegetables, the rearing of poulti*y, and other industries of a so-called 

 subsidiary character." This transition is expected to furnish new fields of 

 employment to labor. 



A large part of the volume is taken up with a summary of the reports of the 

 correspondents, including their names and addresses. Appendix A gives the 

 census statistical data regarding the number of farmers and laborers, acreage 

 of arable and grass lands, number of cattle and sheep, and number of agri- 

 cultural holdings in each county of Great Britain for the period under dis- 

 cussion. 



The decline in number of agricultural laborers in Great Britain, E\'ersley 

 {Jour. Roy. Statis. Soc. 10 (1907). Xo. 2. pp. 267-319).— The author discusses 

 the causes of this decline and aims to show what has become of the laborers 

 who have left the farm. 



Of 130.r)00 laborers who have been withdrawn in England and Wales in the 

 20 years from 1881 to 1901, it is claimed that about 56.000 engaged in intensive 

 gardening, while T4.C>00 found employment at higher wages in avocations and 

 industries where physical strength is necessary — on the railways, in the rural 

 police, as carmen, and as laborers in towns. 



In the author's opinion the remedy for the decline of agricultural laborers 

 lies " in the direction of intense cultivation in connection with small holdings, 

 under the stimulus of ownership, or of security of tenure different from that 

 of yearly tenancy, which is the rule with larger farms under the system of 

 British agriculture." This he believes would give a greater employment of 

 labor on the land and ultimately produce a vigorous and independent rural 

 population. 



The scarcity of farm help in Hungary ( Wiener Landir. Ztg.. .57 {1907), So. 

 3S. pp. 363. 364). — This article points out the effects of labor agitation and 

 foreign emigration on rural deiwpulation in Hungary and outlines the measures 

 adopted by landowners and the government to meet this lack of farm labor. 



In brief, the remedies c-onsist in the importation of foreign farm help and the 

 governmental regulation of the relations between landowners and laborers, 

 including penalties for the violation of contracts and means for the better 



