TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. i it 
and the third section 3,425,000, or 73 per cent. It was stated that in 1831 the 
population was pretty equally divided between the three sections: the respective 
proportions were then 5:0, 4:2, and 4:7. In 1861, however, in consequence of the 
unequal rate of increase, those ratios became 6:1, 59, and 8:1. In 1851, the num- 
ber of persons in England and Wales, aged 20 years and upwards, occupied in 
agriculture was 1,576,080; in 1861 the same class had fallen to 1,531,270. This 
shows an actual decrease of 44,790 persons, or nearly 3 per cent. in the ten years. 
The greatest decline had taken place in the south-western and the Welsh divisions. 
In the former, consisting of the counties of Wilts, Dorset, Devon, Cornwall, and 
Somerset, the decrease was 20,381, or 9 per cent. ; and in the latter, which includes 
Monmouthshire, it was 13,285, or 8 per cent. The ratio of adults engaged in agricul- 
ture in England and Wales on the adult population generally in 1851 was 16:1 per 
cent., and in 1861 it was 13-9 per cent., which is therefore a decline of 2°2 per 
cent. ; in other words, 22 in every 1000 of the adult population had, between 1851 
and 1861, ceased to belong to the agricultural class. Mr. Purdy showed that, 
during the last decade, the falling off in certain counties was very considerable. 
Sussex had lost 2698; Hants, 3412; Berks, 1158; Herts, 1095; Bucks, 1048; 
Suffolk, 3306; Wilts, 2837; Dorset, 1343; Devon, 9475; Cornwall, 3917 ; Somer- 
set, 2809 ; Gloucester, 1166; Northumberland, 1265; Cumberland, 2099; Mon- 
mouth, 1089; South Wales, 4530; and North Wales, 7666. The highest per- 
centages of decrement took place in Devon, 13:3; North Wales, 11:0; Cornwall, 
10:5; Elampshire, 8:8; Cumberland, 7:7; Monmouth, 7-6; Wilts, 7-3; Sussex, 
65; Suffolk, 6-4; Dorset, 5:6; South Wales, 5-6; Hunts, 5:4; Bucks, 5:1; and 
Northumberland, 5:1. It was observed of Wiltshire that, while the population 
generally had decreased by 4904, the decrease of the adult agricultural population 
was 2837 ; and that in Suffolk the general decrease was only 747, while the agri- 
cultural decrease was 3306. Mr. Purdy stated, however, that eleven counties had 
increased their agricultural population. The six most remarkable instances were 
these: Salop had increased 1226, or 3:5 per cent.; Worcester, 1281, or 5:7; Lei- 
cester, 1371, or 6:0; Lincoln, 2159, or 3°3; Chester, 1550, or 4:2; and Lancaster, 
5336, or 7:1 per cent. Attention was directed to the fact that the largest increase 
had occurred in our great manufacturing county, and further, that Lancashire, in 
1861, employed a larger agricultural population than any other county. The num- 
ber of adults so engaged was 80,822. The West Riding of Yorkshire, which in 
this respect comes next, only employed 77,168, and Lincoln, a purely agricultural 
county, 67,357. Though the adult agricultural population of Lincoln is 11,000 less 
than Lancashire, the return of the farmers’ profits (Schedule B.), in 1859-60, in 
the former county exceeded those of the latter by £1,000,000; the valuation in 
both counties having been made upon precisely the same principle, that is, by 
assessing all the farms, whether their occupiers were lable to pay income-tax or 
not. In 1851 there were in Lincolnshire 10,970 farms, one-fourth of the number 
exceeding 100 acres each; while in Lancashire, with 15,865 farms, less than one- 
twentieth of them exceeded 100 acres each. Excluding from each county those per- 
sons placed under the agricultural class, but who in fact work in woods or in gar- 
dens, it is found that in Lincolnshire there were 65,849, and in Lancashire 76,496 
adults engaged infagriculture properly so called. The Schedule B. valuation of the 
first county is £2,647,000, and of the second £1,605,000. Dividing’ these sums 
among the adults respectively employed in each, gives £38 per head for Lincoln- 
shire, and £21 for Lancashire. The exact relation between the agricultural capa- 
city of the two counties can only be satisfactorily shown when England adopts a 
system of agricultural statistics like that of Ireland. The diminution of the agri- 
cultural population was attributed to emigration, and to the attraction of higher 
wages in other industries; though a considerable advance had taken place of late 
years in the money wages of the farm labourer. In Wales, where a large decrease 
of the agricultural class has been noted, the men’s wages had risen from 7s. 6d. 
in 1837, to 11s. in 1860. Contemporaneously with the general advance of agricul- 
tural wages, large tracts of waste land had been enclosed for cultivation. The 
Enclosure Commissioners state the total area: to be 390,000 acres; this is equal 
in extent to the county of Hertford. The writer concluded by remarking that the 
want of agricultural statistics in England precluded any investigation of the effect 
