322 THE AGRICULTURAL COMMITTEE. 



able portion of his capital by a sale. Whenever rent begins to encroach upon 

 the capital of the tenant, it becomes impossible for him to attempt any im- 

 provement on his farm ; nor can he employ the labour necessary for its due 

 cultivation ; the land by over-cropping becomes gradually less productive, and 

 is at last reduced to such a state of exhaustion that it will scarcely repay the 

 expense of cultivation, without leaving any surplus for rent or profit. 



" These observations are only applicable to those cases where farms have 

 continued in the occupation of the same tenants at war rents, where the land 

 has not been permanently improved by an expenditure of capital either on the 

 part of the landlord or tenant, or where it has been taken under the ex- 

 pectation that a higher average price of wheat would be maintained than 

 has been realized under the corn laws of 1828." 



It appears that great pains were taken by the Committee to ascer- 

 tain the comparative excellencies of the Scotch and English systems 

 of tillage ; and the result of the investigation seems to be highly in 

 favour of Scotland. Of three English farmers, selected no doubt for 

 skill in their profession, the most successful rated the expenses of 

 cultivation at 31. 13s. 6d. per acre, rent, tithe, &c. I/. 11s. 6d. t 

 making a total of 51. 5s. per acre. The lowest estimate sent in by 

 three Scotch farmers was 2/. Is., rent, tithe, &c., II. 8s. 3d., total 

 '31. 9s. 3d. The estimates of produce as compared with the rental 

 were considerably in favour of the English. This calculation, if it 

 can be depended on, is quite decisive in favour of Scotch husbandry. 

 Great benefit was thought to have been derived by the Scotch farmers 

 from the practice of letting farms on long leases at a corn-rent; but 

 as a corn-rent can only be useful to the farmer in abundant seasons, 

 it was thought that a portion of the rent should be a fixed money pay- 

 ment, the rest to vary with the price of the corn grown on the land. 



The author then proceeds to discuss the subject of the malt-tax and 

 the probable consequences of its reduction ; but we cannot follow him 

 through that argument. He ends it with a recommendation that the 

 scale of duties on foreign corn should be reduced one half, and as 

 an offset that half the malt duty should be relinquished ; and he 

 then goes on to say : 



" I am quite aware of the jealousy with which a proposition of this nature 

 will be received by a numerous body of farmers ; and to those gentlemen I 

 would address myself, whilst I endeavour to show that the Corn Law of 1828 

 has been a delusion, and that under an altered system an equally high aver- 

 age during a series of years would in all probability be maintained. The 

 avowed object of the Government who proposed that law was to secure a steady 

 range of prices, varying (in wheat) from 60s. to 64s. ; whereas it will be seen 

 by a reference to the returns which have been laid before Parliament, in six 

 years ending January 1836, the average price of wheat has not exceeded 54s. 

 7d.; and on an average of the last three years, 46s. ; a variation in price that 

 must have been ruinous to all farmers who have contracted engagements on 

 the faith of the present law." 



We must here close our remarks on Mr. Lefevre's pamphlet for 

 the present; but as we conceive the whole matter to be highly 

 important, we shall return to it next month and confirm the very sound 

 conclusions of the chairman by copious extracts from the Evidence. 

 We congratulate Mr. Lefevre very heartily on the manly and 

 unreserved manner in which he has expressed his honest convictions 

 in spite of a factious opposition from his fellow land-owners. 



