DEPOPULATION OF RURAL ENGLAND 389 



AVERAGE POPULATION PER SQUARE MILE. 



For the Administrative For Rural Districts 



The conclusion to be drawn from these facts — a 

 conclusion that can hardly be disputed — is that there 

 is room and profitable employment on the agricultural 

 land of England and Wales, and in industries con- 

 nected with it, for at least a million families. 



Emigration became a regular system during the 

 first half of the last century. It was an outlet for the 

 peasantry who had been driven from the soil by the 

 land legislation and the proceedings already described. 

 The mere loss in the form of money and goods which 

 these emigrants carry with them is considerable. On 

 this point an economist writes : ** Taking the esti- 



^ In the Census Reports the rural and urban population are given 

 separately, but the areas are given in statute acres. The particulars in 

 the above table have been ascertained by turning the acreage of each 

 county as a whole into square miles and doing the same in respect of the 

 acreage of the rural districts in that county, and then reckoning the 

 population per square mile in each of the two areas. 

 O 



