CHAPTER IV 



RURAL DEPOPULATION 



AT the present time there is perhaps no 

 subject connected with agriculture to 

 which popular attention is so much 

 directed as what is called rural depopula- 

 tion ; and perhaps there is no subject to 

 which it is more necessary to apply 

 scientific analysis, whether we consider 

 the nature and extent of the alleged evil, 

 the causes assigned, or the remedies pro- 

 posed. 



With regard to the nature and the 

 extent of rural depopulation in England, we 

 may begin with the evidence of the last 

 census (1901), the general report on which 

 was issued in 1904. 



