RURAL ECONOMICS. 387 



tion. The railroads and industries are said to l)e drawing the population from 

 the land into the towns and cities by their demand for labor. " Young and 

 middle-aged men have been attracted thither by the inducement of better wages 

 than the fai-m, managed after the old way, could provide. In some cases the old 

 folks are left to care for the farm as best they can, and. such farms as well as 

 virgin lands could be bought for a reasonable sum. AVith energy and a little 

 capital these lands could be made to produce a comfortable living, provide a 

 home free from the cares and anxieties experienced in the strenuous life in the 

 city." This movement toward the cities centralizes a large uonproducing popu- 

 lation which must buy- their food supplies, and to meet this demand affords 

 abundant opportunity for the development of agriculture throughout the State. 



Agriculture and agricultural services [in Jamaica], J. A. Swkttenham 

 {Colon. Rpts., An<n. [Gt. Brit.], Xo. 52-'f, pp. S-23). — The agricultural conditions 

 of Jamaica in 1905-6 are described, and statistics relating to the exports and 

 imports of products are reported and compared with similar data for preced- 

 ing years. 



There has been a steady Improvement in the general agricultural conditions 

 of the colonj' during the year. The wages of farm laborers range from Is. to 

 Is. 6d. per day. The agricultural society reports 498 members in the central 

 organization and 50 branch societies with 2,.580 members. Its objects are " to 

 obtain useful information and to disseminate it, to encourage improved culti- 

 vation of products and improved breed of stock, and to watch over the agri- 

 cultural industry generally." 



Irish migratory agricultural laborers, 1906, W. G. S. Adams (Dept. Agr. 

 and Tech. Instr. Ireland, Agr. Statu., 1906, pp. ^2). — This is a report on the 

 number of agricultural laborers migrating for work to England and Scotland 

 in 1900, the parts of Ireland from which drawn, the number and classes of 

 landholders among the emigrants, their distribution, conditions of work and 

 living, earnings and savings in England and Scotland, etc. 



The returns show the number of migrants in 1906 to have been about 25,000, 

 of whom 1,000 were women. Three-fourths are natives of the Province of 

 Connaught, and half the number are from the county of Mayo alone. As re- 

 gards landholding, definite returns by the constabulary show that of 15,286 mi- 

 gratory laborers in 1906, 11,914 did not hold any land, 497 had holdings not 

 exceeding 5 acres, while 2,875 had holdings of over 5 acres. The quantity of 

 land held, therefore, was in most instances not sufficient to provide a living 

 without other source of income. The chief work of the emigrants was as 

 potato growers and harvesters, while wages ranged " from a lower limit of 

 15s. a week, with lodging and some food, to piece-work earnings, which at the 

 busy season in several districts reach 30s., and in some cases even £2 a week." 

 It is estimated that the agricultural migratory laborers remitted or brought 

 back to Ireland in 1906 savings amounting approximately to £275,000. 



The scarcity of farm help, Heinrichsen (Filhling's Laiidtr. Ztg., 56 {1901), 

 'So. 13, pp. }fl0-lt~i5). — The author calls attention to the depopulation of rural 

 districts in Bavaria, and assigns as causes of this movement the higher wages 

 received by laborers and servant girls in cities and the freer life and easier 

 or more congenial employment to be found there. 



Among the remedies suggested to bring about the return of the people to the 

 land may be mentioned the application of industrial methods to agriculture, 

 especially in the use of improved implements and machinery, better food and 

 shelter for laborers, the erection of small houses for the use of laborers' fami- 

 lies, the granting of small holdings, and the creation of a class of peasant 

 proprietors. 



17305— No. 4—07 7 



