ABSOLUTE DECLINE 9 



(Porter in his Progress of the Nation gives 

 25.93 as the proportion for 1841, but the 

 official estimate, which was drawn up later, 

 must be held more authoritative.) In 185 1 

 the Census was much extended and improved 

 and comparison with previous years was 

 rendered invalid ; but the report for 1901 

 gives the following proportional figures for 

 185 1 and the subsequent enumerations in 

 England and Wales : — 



There has thus been a progressive relative 

 decline since 1811, and possibly from a still 

 earlier date. But it appears that since 1821 

 there has also been a progressive absolute 

 decline. Previously the agricultural popula- 

 tion had continued to increase in spite of the 

 industrial expansion, then at its height, and 

 the urban movement. This was due to the 

 steady extension of agriculture under the 

 Enclosure Acts from the middle of the i8th 

 century onwards and the improvement in 

 methods of cultivation, of which the Census 

 report of 1851 observes : — 



