142 Rents, Wages, and Profits in Agriculture 



cent, in the last fifty years the highest 

 rate of decline being during the last 

 decennium. At present the total number 

 of women employed in England and Wales 

 is only 12,000 as against 143,475 in 1851. 



On the other hand, however, there has 

 been a very great increase in the number 

 of gardeners, florists, nurserymen, etc., and 

 also in the numbers of those employed about 

 agricultural machinery. There is also an 

 increase in the number of woodmen. Since 

 the former census the agricultural machine 

 attendants have increased 40 per cent., 

 the woodmen 27*4 per cent., and the 

 gardeners 20*5 per cent. These classes 

 together are now equal to about one-third 

 of the workers on farms. 



The decline in the numbers of those 

 engaged on farms is partly accounted for 

 by the large amount of arable land that 

 has gone out of cultivation. In the period 



