300 
Farm Prize Competition , 1913. 
probably the real explanation is that the census returns are 
filled up nowadays with more attention to detail. 
When we come to the labourers (all classes) it is more likely 
that the tables give a true comparison and the rural exodus 
is brought out very clearly. Within the last thirty years 
Gloucestershire has lost 28 per cent, of its farm labourers, 
Somerset 33 per cent., and Dorset 25 per cent. Female labour 
shows an even greater decline, but there are, of course, 
explanations for this other than agricultural depression. 
It would have been of interest to compare the numbers of 
those engaged in village industries in 1881 with those in 1911, 
but the census returns for these two years do not seem to lend 
themselves to any reliable comparison. 
The age-classes of f&rm labourers are of interest as showing 
the migration of the men from the country districts. Figures 
are not available for 1881, but in the following table abstracted 
from the 1911 census it will be noted how in every county the 
number of lads going to work on farms increases each year 
from ten to sixteen years of age. Afterwards it is interesting 
to note how the labour requirements of other trades, and no 
doubt to some extent the attraction of the towns and the oppor- 
tunities offered by the Colonies, assert themselves, and from 
seventeen years onwards there is a steady reduction. It is also 
noteworthy that the men twenty-five years of age and over 
outnumber those under twenty-five years by just two to one : — 
Aggregate of 
Rural Districts, 
1911 
Gloucestershire 
Somersetshire 
Labourers 
(all classes ) ages 
No. 
No. 
10 
2 
15] 
13 
244 
294 
14 
492 
597 
15 
491 
Total 
645 
Total 
16 
525 
\ under 25, 
676 
> under 25 
17 
510 
4,456 
625 
5,841 
18 
426 
545 
19 
361 
539 
20 
1,405/ 
1,905' 
25 
2,006\ 
2,800\ 
35 
1,977 
Total 25 
2,620 
Total 25 
45 
1,902 
> and over, 
2,449 
- and over 
55 
1,334 1 
8,242 
1,672 
10,756 
65 
1,023/ 
1,215/ 
Dorsetshire 
No. 
7 
43 
308 
367 
369 ) 
398 
343 
325 
1,294 / 
1,790\ 
1,585 
1,437 b 
1,020 
760/ 
Total 
under 25, 
3,454 
Total 25 
and over, 
6,592 
Coming to the Farm Competitions, prizes were offered in 
five classes — two classes for farms in Gloucestershire, and 
three classes for farms in Somerset and Dorset. The entries 
were as follows : — 
