THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



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bringing on any equivalent in manure ; and as the latter 

 could not be formerly obtained to a sufficient extent to 

 maintain the farm iu good heart, a direct prohibition 

 through the term to the selling any portion became the 

 necessary and established custom of the kingdom, with 

 partial exceptions only, where farms also were situated 

 near large towns, when the tenants were allowed to sell 

 wheat straw and hay, upon bringing back upon the farm 

 an equivalent in purchased manure. This, by degrees, 

 has become in many instances a pernicious custom upon 

 estates. The tenants, from having paid the market 

 value of the wheat straw and hay upon entering, also 

 claim it upon quitting their respective farms. In other 

 cases, and upon custom widely extended, the outgoing 

 tenant is allowed the hitc, or foddering, as it is termed, 

 of the straw or hay, or is paid the value of such bite or 

 foddering value by the incoming tenant, either at 

 its money value, as estimated upon half the amount of 

 marketable value, or by the outgoing tenant paying the 

 expense of thrashing out the crop and carting the grain 

 to a distance of ten miles, as the equivalent of such 

 foddering value. 



This mode appears a very rational one, and is, per- 

 haps, the best hitherto propounded, as it enables the in- 

 coming tenant at once to lake entire possession of the 

 farm, and to turn the straw and hay to the best account, 

 as well as enabling the outgoing tenant to proceed at 

 once to his new occupation upon the same conditions. 



The next consideration will be the manure, which, in 

 all cases, ought to be left for the landlord, or his repre- 

 sentative (the incoming tenant), by valuation, including 

 also the evpense incurred by the outgoing tenant in 

 throwing it into heaps, or carting it out to its final 

 destination for direct incorporation with the soil, or in 

 heaps for subsequent application. 



The next item usually paid for, and with due reason, 

 is the amount of labour bestowed upon the land under 

 tillage for the production of green cattle crops, or for the 

 purpose only of cleaning and fallowing and draining the 

 land. These heads premised, I shall at once proceed to 

 show their various bearings, and to point out how far 

 they become beneficial, as well as to discuss those points 

 bearing immediately upon the question under notice for 

 this evening's discussion. 



In pursuing the subject, I consider it the best mode 

 at once to assume that the estate is in hand, and un- 

 shackled by any previous fixed customs interfering with 

 the system to be propounded in what I shall have in 

 continuation to offer ; and, therefore, discarding all 

 other modes of entry and occupation, many of which 

 are notorious for their defects, I shall, in discussing the 

 subject, endeavour to simplify the mode of entering and 

 quitting farms, thus keeping the principle T adverted to 

 in the outset, of not charging the tenant with un- 

 necessary payments, so far as can consistently be 

 avoided without damaging the landlord, or preventing 

 him resuming the occupation of his estate without diffi- 

 culty or constraint. 



My chief aim will be to show how far a system may 

 be applied, so as to leave the capital of the tenant un- 

 fettered, but also to secure a continuous improvement 

 of an estate, in place of those customs that secure it 

 only up to a certain period of an occupation, and, after- 

 wards, as it approaches its termination, allow it to 

 become yearly withdrawn by the tenant — so much so, 

 that, by the time of its closing, all the capital he had 

 first invested in improving the farm becomes withdrawn, 

 so that at the last it is frequently reduced to a worse 

 position, as regards its state of cultivation, than it was 

 found in at the time of entry upon the occupation. To 

 obtain a desirable result of the nature I have pro- 

 pounded, I confess many obstacles present themselves ; 

 the customs that have prevailed upon estates being diffi- 

 cult to supersede, although those customs, for the most 



part, do not secure any object either desirable or bene- 

 ficial, but, having for many years been practised, have 

 become as it were rent-charges upon the estate to which 

 they apply, payable every time a farm is transferred 

 from tenant to tenant in perpetuity, and almost as diffi- 

 cult to be got rid of as even the tithe rent-charge itself, 

 or parochial charges of any other description, unless by 

 way of purchase at their estimated values. Whenever 

 such payments extend to many subjects, so as to swell 

 the amount of valuation beyond an ordinary and neces- 

 sary amount, they become a severe tax upon the in- 

 coming tenant ; and when they appertain to the value of 

 the manure, through two or three years, in the shape of 

 dressings, half-dressings, &c., as well as to rent, rates, 

 tithe rent-chai'ge, or parish and national rates, they 

 uselessly swell the amount of the valuations, to the great 

 injury of the tenants, who thereby become deprived of 

 the benefit of the capital so invested throughout the 

 whole period of their term or yearly occupation, as well 

 as inflicting upon the landlord a very heavy charge in 

 perpetuity upon his estate, and occasioning him great in- 

 convenience whenever his farms again may chance to fall 

 into his hands. 



To obviate these evils on the one hand, and to secure 

 the continuance of good farming to the end of the lease 

 on the other, will occupy my attention in the task I 

 have now undertaken ; I therefore must crave your in- 

 dulgence, and, although I may only partially succeed, I 

 shall probably advance suggestions that more able and 

 talented individuals will hereafter turn to better account, 

 and which at some future period may obtain that de- 

 gree of perfection which at my advanced period of life 

 I can hardly expect myself to attain. 



I will now proceed to investigate the period best 

 adapted for the change of tenancy upon farms, the usual 

 periods being New Michaelmas and Lady-day ; and 

 wherever the occupation consists principally of arable 

 land, no doubt can exist that Michaelmas is the time 

 most beneficial to both incoming and outgoing tenant, 

 as it is the climax of the year's proceedings on the one 

 hand and their commencement on the other, and with 

 certain modifications may be made fully to embrace 

 every object desirable for an outgoing and an incoming 

 tenant to attain. In some districts, however, the harvest 

 cannot be concluded by that period. In such cases the 

 occupation must partly be retained and partly given up, 

 still considering the quarterly day of New Michaelmas 

 as the one best suited for the commencement of the 

 year's tenancy, as well as for carrying on the necessary 

 work upon the farm. I would premise, however, that 

 the incoming tenant should have possession of those 

 portions of the farm from which the grain crops have 

 been cleared at an earlier day, and as soon as he may 

 require them after they have been so cleared, and which 

 should be allowed from one week after such clearing. _ 



We will at once suppose that the landlord, being 

 desirous to assist the incoming tenant, commences by 

 allowing him, without prejudice, to take possession 

 of such portions of the farm, for the purpose of fallow- 

 ing, putting-in vetches or rye, or preparing for root 

 crops, immedintely after the fields have been cleared, due 

 time being allowed for feeding them with sheep and 

 swine— say fourteen days at furthest— from the time of 

 clearing. He should also allow him to plough and till 

 the fallowed land, if the tenant is desirous of doing so, 

 and he declines himself further to do so at the time re- 

 quired ; in fact, a virtual possession should be allowed 

 upon portions of the farm previous to Michaelmas day, 

 after the preceding crops have been removed. 



At or previous to Michaelma-sday the valuation should 

 be made, and which valuation should include all acts of 

 husbandry executed by the outgoing tenant, of which he 

 may not have derived any benefit, and from which he 

 may only have derived a benefit in part. 



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