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XV. — Tlic Farmhu/ of Hainpsliirc. ' By John Wilkinson, 
M.A., Rector of Broughton Gifford, Wilts. 
This Report has been drawn uj) under instructions to " include 
the Isle of Wight in the Report on the Agriculture of Hamp- 
shire." But since the mainland and the island, however con- 
nected by political boundaries, are geographically distinct, to 
consider them separately will be more suitable to a treatise which 
respects natural, rather than artificial, divisions. 
THE MAINLAND. 
With the exception of an outlying block of land to the south- 
west (which is estimated at 325 square miles), the mainland of 
the county of Hampshire approaches in form to a jiarallelogram, 
the sides of which face the four cardinal points. Its extreme 
length along a line due north and south, and terminating at South- 
sea Castle, is 40 miles. Diagonally, from north-west to south- 
east, or from Combe to South Hayling, the distance is 46 miles ; 
and from north-east to south-west, or from Yately to Bourne- 
mouth, 65 miles. The area is 970,470 acres, or 230 acres more 
than 1516 square miles. The population in 1851 was 355,046.* 
The density of the population was 2*7 acres to each person, which 
is 0'8 acre more to each person than the average of England. 
According to the census of 1851, f the classification of the 
agricultural portion of the population ("persons of 20 years old 
and upwards, possessing, or working the land, and engaged in 
growing grain, fruits, grasses, animals, and other products "), was 
as follows : — Farmers, 3,109 ; landed proprietors, 385 ; agricul- 
tural labourers, 24,707 ; farm bailiffs, 344 ; indoor farm-servants, 
1,066 ; woodmen, 644; gardeners, 2,185 ; nurserymen, 61 ; game- 
keepers, 311. The ratio of the agricultural population, thus 
desciibed, is 17 "4 per cent, of the total adult population. The 
* These figures do not correspond ■with those usually given in abstracts of the 
census, and in other manuals. The machinery of the Registrar-General was that 
of the Poor-law. His registration districts Mere coterminous with Poor-law 
unions ; but these, when on the borders of counties, contain parishes belonging to 
different counties ; so that registration counties and counties proper are not iden- 
tical. My figures are for the county of Hants proper, in its two divisions of 
mainland and island, and have been supplied to me by the Secretary of the Poor- 
law Board. The following unions, though not in Hants, contain Hampshire 
parishes: Farnborough, Farnham, Bradfield, Hungerford, and Newbury. The 
following unions, situated in Hants, contain parishes belonging to other counties: 
Andover, Basingstoke, Fordiugbridge, New Forest, Romsey, and Stockbridge. 
t These statistics have been given me by the Registrar-General, and refer to 
the whole county of Southampton, mainland and island. I regret that materials 
are not accessit)le for the exact separation of the two. But, considering that the 
acreage of the island is in relation to the mainland 10-3 per cent., and the popula- 
tion 14-2 per cent., and taking 12'25 as the average, it may be said, that such a 
proportion of the figures in this paragraph relates to the island. 
