98 The Alteration in the Distribution of the Agricultural 
of 1871 in four main points. (1.) There are no "land pro- 
prietors" returned in 1881, as there were in 1871. The reason 
of this was that the returns under this head in 1871 were found to 
be very incomplete and indefinite. Many persons were returned 
under this description and under other descriptions as well ; and 
on the other hand, many persons who were proprietors of land 
did not describe themselves as such, but preferred to describe 
themselves under the occupation which they followed, or in some 
other way ; and again, the special Return of the owners of land, 
which was ordered by the House of Commons to be printed in 
1876, appeared to render it less necessary to include this sub- 
division in the Census of 1881. (2.) In 1871 there were two 
sub-divisions of agricultural labourers (excluding shepherds), 
viz. "agricultural labourers" and "farm servants (indoor);" 
but in 1881 these two sub-divisions were grouped together 
under the one head of " agricultural labourers, farm servants, 
and cottagers." With the view, therefore, of making a fair 
comparison between the numbers of the agricultural labourers 
at the two periods, I have, in my tables, added together the 
numbers under the above-mentioned two sub-divisions (both 
male and female) for 1871, and compared the totals so found 
with the numbers of the above-mentioned single sub-division 
(both male and female) for 1881. (3.) There is no separate 
sub-division in 1881 of " land surveyors and estate agents," but 
the persons who follow those occupations are included in the 
" professional class," and are grouped with house and ship sur- 
veyors. As I could discover no means of separating this group 
into its component parts, or of ascertaining how many persons 
in it were " land surveyors " only, I have been obliged to omit 
this sub-division entirely from my tables, and to leave it out 
from my comparison. This is, I think, unfortunate, for 'land 
surveyors, estate agents, and land valuers form in many parts of 
the country districts a by no means small class, and one which, 
as it seems to me, is increasing at a considerable rate. (4.) The 
1881 Returns include a separate sub-division of " agricultural 
students and pupils," but the 1871 Returns do not. As no 
comparison, therefore, could be made of this sub-division, I did 
not retain it in my tables, but included the numbers which it 
gave in 1881 in the division which, in my tables, I have called, 
lor brevity's sake, "Miscellaneous." 
In considering my tables, therefore, I must ask my readers 
to be kind enough to bear in mind the foregoing differences 
between the Returns of 1881 and 1871. I must further point 
out that I have entirely disregarded the sub-divisions of 
" farmers' sons, brothers, grandsons, and nephews ; " and that I 
