suitable for agriculture may be under some pressure leading to a limitation 

 of farm size. This should increase the differences in farm size between 

 the two areas. Since the production is assumed to be about steady, the 

 division of income from this production must be split among more pro- 

 ducers, decreasing the value of farm property in the increasing towns. 



All of the foregoing hinges on the movement of people out of the more 

 distant and into the nearer area. From the selection of the sample, the 

 towns are those showing greatest net gain or loss within their population 

 class. If these towns are compared with the general area in which they 

 are located, the trends should show more rapid adjustment of the towns 

 than of the surrounding area. 



To test this, the three northernmost counties, Coos, Grafton, and Carroll, 

 and the three southernmost counties, Cheshire, Hillsborough, and Rocking- 

 ham, were tested for average acres per farm, average value of all farm 

 property, average number of cows and heifers milked, and average number 

 of gallons of milk per cow. 



The same years of record as used in the sample of towns were employed 

 and the trends of the northern counties compared with the trends of the 

 decreasing towns; those of the southern counties with the trends of the in- 

 creasins; towns. The data are summarized in Table 16. 



The data support the contention that migration hastens economic ad- 

 justment when identical resource items are compared. The inverse may 

 also be true, that economic adjustment hastens migration. 



Production in the northern counties has increased, but in the decreasing 

 towns it has increased more. In the southern counties, production has in- 

 creased about the same as in the increasing towns. The decrease in cow 

 numbers has been virtually constant for all areas which, taken with the 

 preceding data, indicates that the level of production has not been greatly 

 modified in the areas. 



As would be expected under these conditions, farm size has increased 

 in the sample of decreasing towns though it has decreased in the northern 

 counties. Decrease in farm size in the sample of increasing towns has not 

 been as rapid as might be expected. This may be due to the attraction of 

 migrants to towns having better agricultural resources than other towns 

 in the southern counties. The value of all farm property has at the same 

 time become more alike in the sample of towns than in the two sets of 

 counties. It appears then that migration is acting as a device leading to 

 extensive farming in those areas more distant from the markets and more 

 intensive farming in areas nearer the market. 



■& 



Level of Living 



The next question was the effect of out-migration on level of living in 

 these two sets of towns. The usual level of living index which had been 

 developed for use in county analysis could not be utilized. Relatively little 

 data were available from secondary sources and the major attempt to 

 answer this will have to come from analysis of schedules to be used in a 

 forthcoming study of the effect of out-migration on the informal social 

 structure of these towns. 



There were a number of indices available for one year, but only three 

 which were reported in two censuses and which had any validity. Motor cars 

 were reported, but the numbers were- so similar that comparison would 

 have been meaningless. However, possession of electric power, telephones, 



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