The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1871-05-02
From the New England Farmer.
Depopulation of Rural Towns in
New England.

Depopulation of Rural Towns in
New England.
The census is confirming what was
only too apparent to even the casual
observer, that the population Of many
purely agricultural towns is decreasing.
In every part of these six States there
are towns which poll fewer votes than
they did ten and twenty years ago, and
school districts which cannot muster as
many children as formerly. Instances
are found where the cellars and founda.
tions over which once stood the homes OF
prosperous families, outnumber the pres
ent dwellings Of its inhabitants. The
number of farms is decreasing,-the
larger ones absorbing the smaller
cultivated fields are being turned into
pastures or given mp to wood, and ere
long wild animals will return to their
former haunts amid the hills and valleys
of our dear old New England.
The census further shows, in the sun
total for the different States, that New
Hampshire has experienced a materia
loss, being now about where it was TWEEN
ty years ago. Maine and Vermont have
scarcely held their own during the las
decade, while Massachusetts, Rhode Is
land and Connecticut have fallen from
their former rate of increase. And ye
the past ten years have been a period o
unparalleled success to our manufactur
ing, mercantile and railroad interest
agricultural products never sold better
and no class of citizens have had extr'
inducements for migrating. 1t is a goot
time, upon the whole, to observe the ten
dency of population.
We find that in three States all tn
gain in the villages and cities does no
counterbalance the losses of the rura
districts. The decrease among the tiller
of the soil does not arise then from
change of employment, but from di
rect migration out of their native States
and from the fact that they do not multi
ply as formerly.
This backward tendency of our popu
lation very naturally suggests importan
considerations. Can New England affor
to thus lose its citizens, or to suffer a dc
probation in any branch Of industry
will the increasing wealth Of her manu-
facturers, merchants, bankers and broker
make good the loss in agriculture? Th
earnings of farm laborers average som
$500 to $500 per annum; and farmer
having 100 acres in fair condition, ca
add to the products Of their State 500
to $500 each. Cultivated land whe
given up to pasture and woods, at on'
depreciates in value twenty-five to sevel
ty-fve per cent. ; and all the sevel
labor that was expended in bringing the
acres into tillage is lost, to say nothir
of the cost of erecting buildings and fe
ces.
> Every industrious man helps increa
the wealth of his State; and when o.
such migrates, and farm is abandone
there is an appreciable loss. The fgur
which represent it may seem small col
: pared to the grand total, and railroa
] and labor-saving implements may in
measure compensate for the decrease
I scarcity of men, still it is not too insi
nifcant to be noticed. When the you
and robust are leaving by hundreds a
thousands every year, as in New Ham
shire, the results will tell upon the pr'
perity ofa State. The effects may
J be seen in the rapidly growing manufi
, turing village or city, but in the SIN
3 rural town they are seen aud felt.
{ BY the removal Of any consideral
z number of tax payers, the maintenar
! of roads and bridges, schools, churcl
and charitable institutions falls mi
- heavily on the remainder. 1t is bet
for farming community to have
N country thickly settled, even at the r
,SS * of a sharper competition in the prod'
d, markets. A steady decrease in popu
n tion is the most discouraging and pal
- yzing event that can happen to it.
Should the depopulation Of our ru
4 districts continue at the present rate
1 effects will be felt indirectly, if not
y rectly, in our now Aourishing villages
of cities; and the time is coming WI
manufacturers themselves will be carr
=. to have every acre in their town, cou
=, =. and State yield to its full capacity.
RS, enable them to prosecute their busir
of successfully in this corner of the uni
"a. "a. so far from the great centre, withsta
re ing the competition that will come Fl
A the rising establishments at the So
IN, ho and West, they must have cheap lal
cheap as the cheapest. heap la
depends largely upon cheap food,
- where can food be obtained more rea,
'er and cheaper than from farms in the
y mediate vicinity of our factories