44-1: JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



In New England as a whole, as in some other near-by states, agri- 

 culture seems to have reached its maximum extension about 1875. 

 From 1880 to 1910, according to the Government census figures, the 

 acreage of farm land decreased in every state north of North Carolina 

 and east of Kentucky and in parts of several other eastern states; and 

 at the same time the acreage of woodland on farms increased (not only 

 relatively, but absolutely) in nearly every county in New England, and 

 decreased less than the total farm land did (thus making a net gain in 

 total woodland) in New York, New Jersey, and a few other states. 

 The increase of forest area has already been commented on by others, 

 particularly in southern New Hampshire, where it has been most pro- 

 nounced. As long ago as 1885 the report of the Forestry Commis- 

 sioners of New Hampshire contained some observations on this point. 

 An unsigned article in the New York Evening Post of September 28, 

 1907, entitled "Man's defeat by Nature : the tragedy of the New 

 Hampshire hills," says in part : 



"Human muscle could no longer cultivate the fields. Pines grew up 

 in the pastures and overshadowed the feed of the cattle. Black alders 

 sprouted thickly by the brooks and encroached upon the mowing. 

 Brush filled in the roadsides and miles of little-traveled highway . . . 

 were abandoned. . . . Nature was closing in, year in and year out, 

 by summer increasing the growth of brush and tree, by winter filling 

 the long niiles of lonely road with deep drifts of snow." 



With the extension of forest area there has been a perceptible in- 

 crease in numbers of certain wild animals, such as deer. But of course 

 even if farming should cease entirely in New England the forests could 

 not go on increasing indefinitely, for the rapidly growing urban popu- 

 lation requires a considerable space for dwellings, stores, factories, 

 parks, golf links, cemeteries, roads, railroads, etc. Some estimates of 

 the area thus occupied will be given farther on. 



total number of workers engaged in agriculture and manufacturing in New 

 England and in the remainder of the country, in 1840 and 1910, are as follows: 



New England Rest of United States 



Occupations f ^ ^ r ^ \ 



1840 1910 1840 1 910 



Agriculture 62.3 10.4 80.0 35.1 



Manufacturing 28.1 49.1 14.6 26.2 



In the whole United States the ratio of rural to urban population — that is, of 

 persons living in places with less and more than 2,500 inhabitants— is very nearly 

 the same as that of farm to factory workers, and the same would doubtless hold 

 true in New England if the rural and urban portion of each township could be 

 returned separately. 



The occupation ratios for New York and New Jersey at both census periods 

 named were not very different from those for New England, doubtless for similar 

 reasons. 



