l8*4' Thoughts on certain Ohjlacles to Imprgvejntnt, 155 



perhaps a more worthy and judicious one than the executor or 

 adminil'trator of a dcceafcd tenant of his civn choofing^ lie is ac- 

 tuated by jjome unjuftiiiable motive — perhaps by a vvilh to obtain 

 property to which he has no equitable claim. 



Much has been advanced a^ainlt tenants being left at liberty to 

 fubfet. * In fome parts ox Great Britain, however, (though very 

 fevr), fuch liberty is conceded by the landlord at the taking of the 

 farms; and I have not been able to difcovcr that any injurious ef- 

 fects have refultcd from it, either to the foil, the occupiers, or 

 the proprietors. Indeed, hi fuch a country^ fuch hberty will fel- 

 dom or never be a6led upon, but on particular occafions, where 

 the expediency and neceility of exercifmg it are obvious. I am 

 forry to remark that there is too much reafon to believe that no- 

 thing is more difagreeable to many of our landholders, than to 

 hear of their tenants acquiring any confiderable property in the 

 occupation of their farms : their oiun mtereJIs^ however, incon- 

 trovertibly require the accumulation of a great agricultural capi-. 

 tal. Confequences of a momentous kind depend on the * fchemes 

 of hulbandry. ' Let us therefore inveftigate this part of the fub- 

 jeO:, and the agricultural knov/ledge of thofe by wliom fuch fchemes 

 are drawn up. Till within a few years of the expiry of the term, 

 ref{;ricl:ions on the management of able and prudent tenants are. 

 unneceilary ; for their fyftem, during the other part of the term, 

 is (in order to promote their own intereil) nearly the fame as that 

 which land agents of the greateft judgment and experience would 

 prefcribe. It muft, however, be admitted, that, near the expiry 

 of the term, either there is a ceiTation of meliorating manage- 

 ment, or fome excitement to deterioration ; and that reftricled 

 management may be ufeful to the landlord and the community. 

 But perhaps their interefts, and likewife thofe of the occupiers, 

 are better promoted by the landlord's granting a new leafe, on 

 proper conditions, a few years previous to the expiration of the 

 term. This would fecure fome of the advantages which Lord 

 Kaimes had in view, and feems well worth the attention of land- 

 holders. Seeing, then, that properly prefcribed management is 



not 



* Many contend, that very injurious effedls have refulted from fub- 

 fetting, In Ireland. On the ftate of that country 1 cannot venture to 

 fpeak with much confidence ; and therefore beg your afii (lance. But 

 fronri all I have heard on the fubjeft, I am much Inclined to believe that 

 the fnbfetting, in quedlon, arifes from the necefiities of moll of the 

 Irlfh landlords, and the almoft univeifal poverty of tlie tenantry (which 

 make the < middle men ' neceflary). In other words, that thefe unpro- 

 pitious circumftances are the caufcy and not the {^c7, of the extenfive 

 fubfettip^ which prevails in that part of the kingdom. 



