CHAPTER IX 



COUNTRY LIFE, OLD AND NEW 



HE fact that there has been a decline in 

 the population of most of the strictly rural 

 towns of New England has led many to 

 assume that there has been general deca- 

 dence in agriculture. That a decline has 

 taken place in towns far from the centers of trade is 

 true, but this does not mean that agriculture as a whole 

 is on the decline. In fact, agriculture is more pros- 

 perous than ever in sections near good markets. In 

 order to understand the decline that did take place, half 

 a century or more ago, in many of the rural towns of 

 this county, we need to consider the general evolution in 

 industrial life that was going on everywhere in our 

 country. Litchfield County passed through the same 

 industrial evolution between 1840 and 1870 that mani- 



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