?804- Oh the Shortnefs of Leafet* j^xx 



tive can never weigh in the prcfcnt day, when it Ig known thai 

 the firmcll tie of attachment, and even of fubjection, confifts in 

 afFedion, and a fenfe of gratitude for favours received. Were 

 we to endeavour to account for the pra^ice, on the feore of iri- 

 tereft, we would be equally wide of the true mark, as it caii cer- 

 tainly never be the intereft of any man to keep thofe connecftcd 

 with liim in a ftate of poverty and mlfery. A tenant will furely 

 give more rent for his farm, when he has a Icafc for a rcafonablc 

 time, than when he holds it only from year to year. 



But from wl.atever confiderations t]\e praclice may arife, of all 

 tiie general fubje61:s that I have feen treated of in your Magazine, 

 it appears to me that this is by far the moft extenfively importa!:!t. 

 in vain will Lord Kaimes have exercifed his ingenuity in deyifmg 

 the proper conditions of an equitable leafe, if landlords are de- 

 termined not to grant any leafes at all. In vain will Sir John 

 Sinclair have done more to inveltigate the fituation, and to ame- 

 liorate the condition of the poffeflbr's and cultivators of land, 

 than any other man prefently exifting in the Britiih dominions, 

 if the tenants on the eftates, perhaps in the near neighbourhood 

 of his own, fliall at this day be occupying their farms at tlie 

 good-will, and by the fuiferance of th.eir landlords. In vain will 

 Sir William Pulteney have made the patriotic foundation of a 

 profefTorfnip of agriculture, if a large portion of the people are 

 kept in a political lituation unable to avail themfelves of the iri- 

 ftru<5\ions of the profeflbr. In vain fliall we boaft of the favourite 

 names of David Hume and Adam Smitl], and other writers on 

 political economy, who have fixed the principles of the profpe- 

 rity of Hates on a furer bafis, than tlie writers of any other coun- 

 try whatever, if tlieir maxims have not had influence to induce 

 the proprietors of land to grant a certainty of poffefTion to the 

 cultivators, without which no good cultivation will ever take place- 

 In vain fhall we talk of the fuperiority of our agriculture, when 

 fome of our farmers are in a more uncertain, and lefs enviable 

 conditioi'i, than the adfcripii gleha on the lands of the feudal ba- 

 rons, or the ferfs on the eilates of the boyars in Ruilia. Finally, 

 the magnificent fchemes of government for the improvement of 

 the Highlands will be unavailing, if, when the people have got 

 fome capital put into their hands, they cannot have the opportu- 

 nity of inveftlng that capital on a fure and firm tenure. 



It appears to me, then, that till this great evil is remedied, 

 you and the ingenious correfpondents in your Magazine may long 

 write on particular branches of agriculture with lefs general ef- 

 fedl:. You may difcufs the nature and qualities of foils, and of 

 manures ; you may recommend one rotation, or another rotation 

 of crops J you may expatiate on the advantages of enclofing, and 



draining, 



