264 Transactions of the Canadian Institute. [vol. ix 



palities of a county by the area. Thus I found that the average density 

 of population in Prince Edward County was 31.54 to the square mile; 

 in East Huron, 28.4; in Wellington, 28.5; in Dufiferin 24.45; in Simcoe (ex- 

 cluding the non-agricultural and partly settled township of Matchedash), 

 31,26; in Norfolk, 31.9; in North York, 35.9. For purposes of comparison 

 I calculated the density of rural population in Prince Edward Island, the 

 only province which is all settled, and found it to be 36 persons to the 

 square mile. It should be noted that all the communities under discus- 

 sion are overwhelmingly English-speaking. 



In French-speaking districts the density is quite noticeably greater 

 than in English-speaking. For example, the density of rural population 

 in Prescott is 40.87 and in Russell 41.6 to the square mile. Also in 

 the Province of Quebec the density in Bagot is 41.6 per square mile, and 

 in Chambly and Vercheres, 43.6. From these and other examples I 

 conclude that the average density in an ordinary French-speaking agri- 

 cultural community is in the neighbourhood of 40 to the square mile. 

 The significance of this greater density we shall see later. 



So far I have dealt only with facts. I shall now attempt to give an 

 explanation of the causes of this great decline in rural population and to 

 show why these causes have not operated with the same intensity in 

 French-speaking as in English-speaking districts. 



Causes of the Decline. 



Various causes of this decline — the alleged contempt in which the 

 farmer's profession is sometimes held, the tendency to city life inculcated 

 in our schools, the glittering financial lures held out by the city, the 

 electric lights and shop-windows and the gregarious instinct of mankind 

 have no doubt had more or less effect upon our young people in the choice 

 of a vocation. These have been discussed almost ad nauseam in our 

 press, while the main cause is left in comparative obscurity. That 

 cause is not social but economic. 



The decline of rural populat'on in our province, as in other pro- 

 vinces and other countries, is mainly due, I believe, to the introduction of 

 labour-saving, agricultural machinery • and to the increasing operation 

 of the great economic principle enunciated by Adam Smith — the di- 

 vision of labour, which has transferred to the cities and towns various 

 branches of production which half a century ago were carried on almost 

 exclusively on the farms. Further, the decline of rural population has 

 been to the economic advantage of the people of the North American 

 continent as a whole. 



I shall best make clear my point by going back to my first example, 

 that of the township of Chinguacousy, Why has its population declined 



