44 THE GREAT WAR 



being that the soil should yield to its utmost 

 capacity food for man and beast. 



DEPOPULATION 



" The greatest crop the land can bear is a crop of 

 men " (Lord Lansdowne). 



By the course suggested by the writer, the 

 pressing problem of re-peopling the rural dis- 

 tricts would be largely solved. According to 

 the census of 1851, the population of in gland 

 and Wales, living under rural and urban con- 

 ditions, were about equally divided some 50 per 

 cent being rural and some 50 per cent urban. 

 According to the census of 1911, however, the 

 proportion was as follows : 



28,162,936 or 78-1 per cent of the population were urban. 

 7,907,556 or only 21-9 per cent of the population were 

 rural. 



FARM WORKERS 



According to the same census (1911, Vol. 10, 

 page 51) the number of farm workers was still 

 further reduced ; being only 762,947 for the 

 whole of England and Wales. Their ages were 

 as follow : 



