18 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



light, and thus fit. The heavier portion is converted into 

 prussiate of potash and Prussian blue, of which about 

 10 tons are made weeldy in Sheffield from the waste 

 products. 



The hoofs of cattle, being composed of tlic same ma- 

 terial as horn, are used for manufacturing j)urposes to a 

 small extent; and besides our home supply, we import 

 about £4,000 to <£'5,000 in value. They are pressed 

 out into combs and horn buttons; but the greater part 

 finds its way to tlie boilers of the glue maker, and to 

 the manufactory of the chemist, who work them up, 

 with other animal refuse, into prussiates. 



As a fertilizer, horn cuttings and shavings are very 

 useful when they can be obtained in any quantity. 



The composition of stag horn most resembles bone, 

 while the horns of black contain fully 90 per cent, of 

 albuminous matter. It is difficult to estimate what 

 quantity of the horns used up in manufactures, or of 

 the slaughtered animals, are returned to the soil in the 

 shape of manure, in common witli the numerous other 

 animal and vegetable products. Mr. Braithwaite 

 Poole, in his Statistics of British Commerce, calculates 

 that the animal manures used yearly amount to about 

 ninety million tons, besides fat, blood, garbage, &c. 



MODES OF ENTERING AND QUITTING FARMS, WITH 

 SUGGESTIONS FOR THEIR IMPROVEMENT. 



[a PAPEK read by MR. ROBERT BAKER, OF WRITTLE, TO THE MEMBERS OF THE FARINGDON 

 BOOK SOCIETY, ON TUESDAY, DECEMBER IST, LORD BARRINGTON IN THE CHAIR; LORD RADNOR 

 AND ABOUT A HUNDRED OTHER GENTLEMEN BEING PRESENT.] 



The growing importance of agriculture, and the rapid 

 strides it has of late made, demand our utmost con- 

 sideration ; for when we consider that with a limited 

 area we have a largely increasing population augmenting 

 yearly, it becomes a subject of the greatest national im- 

 portance to ascertain to what extent the oidinary modes 

 in operation for the production of bread-corn and meat 

 are beneficial, and more especially whetlier the present 

 system of tenure is the best calculated to attain that 

 desirable object ; for, as Adam Smith asserts what few 

 will be disposed to attempt to disprove, that " Labour is 

 wealth, "thus it requires no laboured argument to 

 prove that the large amount paid annually for wheat 

 might be saved to the country, at any rate to such an 

 extent as we by increased exertions and application of 

 means might be able to effect it ; and as the enterprise 

 and energy of the British farmer can be sufficiently 

 estimated, it will be well rext to inquire what other 

 obstacles exist to retard it ; and, upon a due consider- 

 ation of the subject, to point out a remedy so f.ir as it 

 may appear requisite for the accomplishment of such 

 purpose. 



As it will be of too extensive a character, upon an 

 occasion like the present, to attempt an investigation of 

 the question in all its bearings, and as the discussion «f 

 this evening is appointed for that portion only which 

 relates to the customs existing in different portions of 

 the kingdom, upon the change of tenancy of farms, as 

 well as upon what period of the year is most suitable, I 

 shall at once discard any elaborate investigation of the 

 customs now prevaihng throughout this kingdom, but 

 proceed at once to investigate the subject upon its 

 broad principle, with a view rather to show which really 

 ought to prevail, than to discuss the anomalous con- 

 ditions that at present exist, the remains now of a 

 period long passed away, and at the jiresent time totally 

 inadequate to the advanced requirements of the age. 



If we endeavour to trace back to a very distant period 

 we shall find that the first tenants rendered payment of 

 rent to the lords of the soil, for the most part in labour 

 or m kvnd. Most of the college leases, even to the 

 present day, retain many of tlie conditions that existed 

 centuries before our time ; still receiving their rents in 

 gram, malt, and money, or having the amount of rent 

 upon the average prices of corn and malt for the year 

 current to which th.y apply. In process of time :ents 

 became entirely paid in money ; and corn leases for 

 terms of years have become so modified, as to meet the 

 fluctuations that arise in the value of produce This 



system has been attended with the most beneficial 

 results, as it has enabled landlords to demise their 

 estates for terms of years, without a liability of becom- 

 ing seriously injured in case the price of wheat and 

 grain, from unforeseen circumstances, should rise to 

 higher prices than had been contemplated. It enables a 

 tenant also to take land upon like tenure, with a cer- 

 tainty of continuance as tenant under circumstances of 

 depression in the prices of corn, inasmuch as his rent 

 will fluctuate in amount proportionally with the prices 

 he obtains ; and thus his rent will at all times more 

 truly represent the value of land, in relation to the value 

 of produce, than by any fixed money payment that 

 could be devised. 



At a subsequent period it was found necessary to 

 establish a principle to protect the landlord from being 

 seriously injured by the ignorance or wilfulness of a bad 

 tenant; and the ancient law, based upon antecedent 

 customs, afterwards became modified as the advancing 

 progress of the age required. 



In our time, however, such has not been the case. 

 The old law prevails to such an extent as to become in- 

 jurious to an improving tenant, whilst it has not suffi- 

 ciently restrained a bad one. Conditions in leases, 

 therefore, have more or less been resorted to, as the only 

 means of defining what custom had failed doing, and 

 thereby fixing the mode of cultivation to be pursued, 

 and determining the mode of entering upon and quitting 

 of farms. 



In the first instance the custom was to fix the mode 

 of entering in such manner that the largest amount of 

 payment might be exacted from the tenant by valuation, 

 upon his entering upon the farm. This was done 

 mainly for the purpose of insuring an amount of capital 

 to be paid down, which, from the nature of the invest- 

 ment, could not be extracted by the tenant until at the 

 immediate time of his quitting the occupation, thereby 

 securing the rent to the landlord to the amount of claim 

 that the tenant would have upon the farm at quitting. 

 This system, however, carried its own result to the end of 

 the term : it was, in fact, equivalent to depriving the tenant 

 of the capital he embarked throughout his entire lease, 

 and thus depriving him of any advantages, either by re- 

 turn of interest or by the application of the capital to 

 the improvement of the soil. 



It was obvious, however, then, as at the present time, 

 that the farmer ought to be protected from waste, more 

 especially by the tenant selling off the hiiy and straw 

 without consuming it by horses or cattle, and without 



