144 Rents, Wages^ and Profits in Agriculture 



of the rural districts, and of the 

 abandonment of cultivated land, is to a 

 great extent ill-founded and exaggerated. 



It is worth while also examining the 

 popular idea that the percentage falling ofE 

 in the numbers employed in agriculture, 

 compared with those in other pursuits, is 

 something new in England and peculiar 

 to the present age. 



Between 1811 and 183 1 (when the census 

 of occupations took account of families 

 and not of individuals) it was found that, 

 whilst the total number of families in 

 Great Britain increased by 34 per cent., 

 the number of those employed in agriculture 

 increased only 7^ per cent. 



Again, if we compare 1831 with 1841, 

 we find that although the population 

 had increased on the whole by over 

 2,000,000, the number of adult males 

 employed in agriculture had actually 



