Rural Depopulation 139 



of time, with improvements in communica- 

 tion and the adoption of different methods 

 of manufacture, this process may be 

 intensified. 



The bearing on agriculture, and on the 

 condition of the strictly rural population, 

 is important, as better markets are afforded 

 to the bye-products of agriculture by the 

 growth of the moderate-sized towns. 



Here, however, it is necessary to point 

 out that the occupations of the rural 

 population are not entirely agricultural, 

 nor directly dependent on agriculture. In 

 some country districts, to take but one 

 example, there is a good deal of min- 

 ing, and there are residents who derive 

 their incomes from non - agricultural 

 sources. 



We may now consider the numbers of 

 those employed in agriculture in the census 

 meaning of the term. They are divided 



