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The Coimtry Gentleman^s Magazine 



the abundance in which that petty game is 

 suppHed to wondering foreigners at Itahan 

 tables cfJwte. 



Finally, I learn that the land of Umbria 

 cannot be fairly estimated to yield its owners, 

 on an average of years, more than 4 per cent. 

 This may appear little in a country favoured 

 with so much rich soil and so fine a climate, 

 and yet it will seem high if we consider the 



imperfect methods employed to extract the 

 wealth from the land. There seems no 

 reason why, within a few years, by the 

 judicious adoption of modern improvements, 

 and by stimulating the people to greater 

 industry, the proprietor's revenue should not 

 be largely increased, while the comfort and 

 well-being of the farmer shall be propor- 

 tionately augmented. 



COMPENSATING A RETIRING TENANT. 



By Mr J. H. Holley.* 



IN considering the question of compensa- 

 tion to a tenant on leaving a farm, he 

 proposed first to call attention to the relative 

 positions of owner and occupier. Their 

 position was clearly a joint speculation; for 

 one found the capital to purchase the farm, 

 and the other found the skill and the capital 

 that was necessary for the cultivation of 

 that farm. The purchaser embarked about 

 five times as much capital as the occupier. 

 Supposing a man accumulated the sum of 

 ^20,000, and purchased a farm of 400 acres, 

 he must be content with three per cent, 

 interest, the amount generally obtained from 

 investments in land, and the occupier ought 

 to have ;^4ooo to enable him to cultivate 

 the farm to the best advantage, and he ought 

 also to realise at least 10 per cent. — five per 

 cent, on his capital and five per cent, for his 

 skill and interest — and if a twenty years' 

 lease had been granted, at the end of that 

 term the farm ought to be improved and in- 

 creased in value. Surely the partner, or in 

 other words, the owner, who suppHed 

 the largest portion of the capital, had some 

 claim to share the increase of value. If. in 

 granting another twenty years, the landlord 

 raised the rent 15 per cent., he then would 

 receive a fraction less than three-and-a-half 

 per cent, on his original capital. Let them 



* Read before the Devon and Cornwall Chambei 

 of Agriculture. 



suppose another case, viz., that the occupier 

 borrowed the money and purchased the farm 

 himself. What would be his position in such 

 a case as that ? If he obtained the money 

 at four per cent, he would pay p^2oo a year 

 more for interest than he had to pay as rent, 

 which at the end of twenty years would 

 amount to ^4000, a larger sum than any 

 compensation would ever be computed at. 

 These facts proved how the interest of the 

 tenant was dovetailed with that of the owner. 



THE BENEFITS OF LONG LEASES. 



The best security and protection that he 

 could suggest for the tenant was afforded by 

 long leases, renewable some years before the 

 term expired. As a proof of the efficiency of 

 long leases, he would give them just two 

 illustrations, the first of which had reference 

 to an estate of some _;^io,ooo a-year in 

 Ireland, belonging to the Eail of Portsmouth. 

 His lordship's predecessors and himself had 

 been in the habit of granting leases for thirty 

 years, giving also X.o the tenant the option of 

 selling the goodwill of the remainder of the 

 unexpired term, provided he brought forward 

 an eligible and respectable man, and the 

 result was that this estate was in the most 

 flourishing condition, the tenants contented, 

 and, what was far more important still, life 

 and property were secure — a state of things 

 which was unusual in Ireland. The other 

 illustration applied to Holkham Estate in 



