126 Rents, Wages, and Profits in Agriculture 



increasing prosperity. Even from 1891 to 

 1901 in England and Wales the number 

 of males under fifteen employed in agri- 

 culture has diminished by nearly one-half, 

 and the number of girls in 1901 is less 

 than one-fourth the .total number of girls 

 under fifteen employed in agriculture in 

 1891, the total being now only 385, i.e., 

 for all England and Wales. 



These movements in wages and employ- 

 ment are easily explained by reference to 

 fundamental economic principles. Once a 

 country is fairly well peopled, and most of 

 its available lands cultivated, there is little 

 room for the extensive increase of agri- 

 culture. And as regards the increase of 

 intensive cultivation, many of the improve- 

 ments that take place are such as to 

 demand less labour. On the whole, then, 

 there is no natural expansion in the demand 

 for agricultural labour, but rather the 



