CHAPTER I. 



THE DECLINE OF THE COUNTRYSIDE. 



SO much attention has been given, of recent years, by 

 politicians and by social workers to the condition of 

 life in our crowded urban areas, so much importance 

 has been rightly attached to the development of our manufac- 

 turing industries, that the problems of country life and the 

 interests of agriculture have been forced into the background. 

 The reason of this is obvious. In England and Wales the 

 population of urban districts* in 1911 was 28,162,936, as 

 against a population of 7,907,556 in rural districts. The total 

 output of the agricultural land of Great Britain in 1907 was 

 worth about £210,000,000, while in the same year the output 

 of industry was about £1,240,000,000, or nearly six times 

 as much.f 



But although the comparative importance of the town 

 may be increasing, the country still is, and ever must be, the 

 home of millions of persons, the breeding-ground of millions 

 of children. And although agriculture is now, and is likely 

 to remain, of far smaller importance than the urban indus- 

 tries, it still employs far more people than any other single 

 industry. Moreover, the problems of the country are not 

 localised, nor confined to a corner ; but are co-extensive with 

 the whole area of the country, and are intimately bound up 

 with our national life and health. The total extent of the 

 land of England is 32,394,210 acres, and of Wales 4,749,651 ; 

 total, 37,143,861 acres, of which not less than 28,565,861 in 

 England and 4,283,318 in Wales are agricultural land — 

 total, 32,849,179 acres, or 88' 4 per cent, of the whole.J 



While, therefore, it is foolish to regard the decline of agri- 

 culture with the despair which fills the heart of a Suffolk 

 yeoman or a Wiltshire farmer, it is equally blind to be 



* Census of England and Wales, 1911. Vol.1. (Cd. 6258, 1912.) 



f See Appendix A. 



J See Acreage and Live Stock Returns, Agricultural Statistics, 1912. 



Cd. G.597. 



B 



