XLYIH. 



KtJRAL * DEPOPULATION. 



COMPLAINT is widely made of a decrease in the rel- 

 ative population of our rural districts ; and not with- 

 out reason, or, at least, plausibility. I presume the 

 Census of 1870 will return no more farmers in the 

 State of New York, and probably some fewer in 

 New England, than were shown by the Census of 

 1860. The very considerable augmentation of the 

 number of their people will be found living wholly 

 in the cities and incorporated villages. I doubt 

 whether there are more farmers in the State of New 

 York to-day than there were .in 1840, though the 

 total population has meantime doubled. Many farms 

 have been transformed into country-seats for city 

 bankers, merchants, and lawyers ; others have been 

 consolidated, so that what were formerly two or three, 

 now constitute but one ; and, though every body 

 says, " Our farms are too large for our capital," 

 " We run over too much land," etc., afcc., yet, I can 

 hear of few farms that have been, or are expected to 

 be, divided, except into village or city lots ; while the 

 prevalent tendency is still the other way. An ineffi- 

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