Population of England and Wales, S^c, ofl%ll and 1881. 99 
have not separately contrasted the sub-division called " land 
drainage service," but that I have included the numbers of that 
sub-division under the heading " Miscellaneous," in both 1871 
and 1881. That heading therefore includes, in 1871, the persons 
who were returned under the sub-division " land drainage 
service," as well as " others engaged in agriculture and in 
1881 the persons returned under that sub-division, and "agri- 
cultural pupils and students," as well as " others engaged in or 
connected with agriculture." 
I have taken the area of " the Registration County " for the 
purposes of comparison, partly because that area was the most 
convenient, it being that by which the Returns of the various 
occupations are classified in the Census itself, and partly 
because that area seemed to me to afford better and fairer means 
of comparison than any other ; it being on the one hand not 
too large, as the eleven " Registration Divisions " into which 
the country is divided would have been ; and, on the other hand, 
not too small, as the 14,926 civil parishes, or the 2175 Regis- 
tration sub-districts, into which respectively the country is 
divided, would have been. It must be remembered, however, 
that the counties in my tables are " Registration " counties, 
and that the boundaries of those counties are different in many 
cases from the boundaries of ordinary counties. 
In the last column of the tables I have shown either the 
increase (-|- ) or the decrease ( — ) in the numbers of each of the 
six classes into which I have divided the agricultural popula- 
tion in 1881 over or under the corresponding numbers for 1871 ; 
and in the last column I have shown the percentage of such 
increase or decrease. 
Before proceeding to the consideration of my tables, it will 
be convenient to ascertain what was the alteration in the agri- 
cultural population of England and Wales during the period 
1871 to 1881 from a general point of view, and for this purpose 
we can have no better guide than the general Report of the 
1881 Census. The following extract from that Report relates 
to the Agricultural Class : — 
Under the various headings that are placed together to form the agri- 
cultural class 1,383,184 persons were enumerated ; which number showed, as 
compared with the total in 1871, duly corrected for comparison, a decline of 
8'2 per cent. The agricultural class, however, comprises not only those who 
may properly be called agricultural, as being engaged in cultivation, but also 
104,560 persons engaged about animals, many of whom, and especially the 
fishermen, are in no sense agricultural persons. The persons engaged in the 
cultivation of farm lands, including woods and gardens, numbered 1,278,024, 
and showed a decline since 1871 of 9'3 per cent. 
In 1871 there were 249,907 farmers and graziers enumerated in England 
H 2 
