un
ranked thirty-sixth in the list of Virginia counties which then also
included the counties now in West Virginia. This number was
distributed amongst 670 slave-holders in the following proportions:

1 slave 124
2 slaves 84
3 slaves 61
4 slaves 83
5 slaves 46
6 slaves 39
7 slaves 35
8 slaves 27
9 slaves 22
10 and under 15 slaves 80
15 and under 20 slaves 36
20 and under 30 slaves 23
30 and under 40 slaves 4
40 and under 50 slaves 4
50 and under 70 slaves 1
100 and under 200 slaves 1

The following table gives the population of Loudoun County
decennially, from and including the first official census of 1790:

1900 21,948
1890 23,274
1880 23,634
1870 20,929
1860 21,774
1850 22,079
1840 20,431
1830 21,939
1820 22,702
1810 21,338
1800 20,523
1790 18,952

The reports of population by magisterial districts given below, with a
single exception, show an appreciable decrease between the years 1890
and 1900:

----------------------+-------+-------
| 1900. | 1890.
----------------------+-------+-------
Broad Run district | 3,309 | 3,463
Jefferson district | 3,106 | 3,307
Leesburg district | 4,299 | 4,246
Lovettsville district | 3,104 | 3,210
Mercer district | 4,010 | 4,570
Mt. Gilead district | 4,120 | 4,478
----------------------+-------+-------

The following incorporated towns for the same period are charged with
a corresponding decrease in the number of their inhabitants:

-------------+-------+-------
| 1900. | 1890.
-------------+-------+-------
Hamilton | 364 | 407
Hillsboro | 131 | 156
Leesburg | 1,513 | 1,650
Lovettsville | 97 |
Middleburg | 296 | 429
Waterford | 383 | 385
-------------+-------+-------

These circumstances of fluctuation and actual decrease might appear
singular if it could not be shown that practically the same conditions
obtain elsewhere in the State and Union, or wherever agriculture is
the dominant industry. Especially is this true of the counties of
Clarke, Fauquier, Prince William, and Fairfax, in Virginia, and
Jefferson, in West Virginia. All these farming communities adjoin
Loudoun and exhibit what m