THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



than £3,000, aud who then received eh months' notice to 

 quit, and to leave behind him all the hard earniuga of his life 

 for the benefit of the landlord. This tenant, lie believed he 

 was right in saying, had on the farm, at the time of receiving 

 notice to quit, some 700 tons of night-soil, collected from the 

 different towns, and 300 tons of lime. Nor was this the only 

 case where a tenant had been ejected from his holding under 

 similar circumstances. There was a certain captain (his 

 name we withhold) who received six months' notice to quit, 

 after having improved the farm to a very great extent; but 

 there was this difference in the two cases — that the latter laid 

 no blame to his landlord, but on the steward, and would not 

 condescend to ask the reason why he was to be ejected ; whilst 

 the former inquired the cause, but obtained no reply. Now 

 they had no means of knowing why either of these tenants, 

 who had proved themselves good farmers, aod had addtd 

 wealth to the county, but who were now obhged to leave all 

 behind them, should be thus served. It might have been some 

 little petty affair. It might have been something respecting 

 those vermin, commonly known by the name of rabbits. 

 And were not most of them subject to such annoyances, and 

 often without the means of knowing what was repotted to 

 landlords by gamekeepers against tenants ? He (the speaker) 

 thought if there was one reason more than another which 

 ought to urge tenants on to the necessity of having leases, it 

 was the rabbit system generally adopted by landlords. (Hear, 

 hear). He should certainly like to see what it costs the 

 county in keeping up those feudal game-laws. Before he 

 concluded, Mr. Reader begged to draw their attention to 

 another point, and that was to the impoverished state of the 

 pasture land in this county. What, he would ask, was the 

 cause of it? It was simply this — it required a longer time 

 to get a return on grassland than on arable; and this he 

 believed to be the only cause why the grass land had not at- 

 tracted the attention of the tenants generally. He would also 

 ask them this question : Supposing they were to manure a 

 piece of meadow land just after the hay-harvest (generally ad- 

 mitted to be the best time), and at Michaelmas receive six 

 months' notice to quit, what benefit would they derive from 

 the manure? None. This circumstance alone he thought 

 quite sufficient to call on landlords to grant leases for the be- 

 nefit of themselves, the tenants, and, above all, the labourer 

 (applause). 



Mr. Randall perfectly agreed with Mr. Reader in his ob- 

 servations as to the advantage of leases. Although they were 

 quite satisfied that a great many tena'jts-at-will had gone on 

 for a number of years, and that there had been a good feeling 

 existing between them and their landlords, still he did not 

 think there was any real security to a tenant, unless he were 

 holding under a lease. It often happened that a tenant-at- 

 will entered upon a farm, which might be in a very bad state 

 of cultivation ; he might lay out his capital in improvements, 

 subject to quitting at six months' notice ; after expending 

 much of his capital, there might be such a thing as the farm 

 falling into other hands— there might be fresh stewards, and 

 such like ; therefore, unless there were security of some sort, 

 he did not think any man justified in laying out his capital 

 upon it. 



Mr. Saunders (the Vice-President) said, as allusion had 

 been made to him by Mr. Reader, he begged to make one or 

 two observations. He had told them that he (Mr. Saundeis) 

 had improved his land because he was holding it under a lease, 

 otherwise he could never have brought his farm to the state of 

 cultivation he had ; but he must inform them this had not 

 been done but at a very great expense. He did not approve 

 of what was termed the " cut-and-go " system, where a man 

 had a return for his money each succeeding year— they ought 

 to work for their landlords as well as themselves. He had 

 been spending a very considerable sum in manures, &c., dur- 

 ing the last thirty years ; therefore he thought that a man 

 holding under a long lease was of public good, because he was 

 employing a great deal of labour in the neighbourhood in 

 which he resided, and he was also expending a considerable 

 sum in manures, &c. ; therefore he was, in fact, a national 

 goad. He (Mr. S.) considered the tenant-at-will system a 

 very bad one, because a man must make bis rent during the 

 year he holds it, not knowing whether some one else might 

 notsoou have possession o! it. No tenai.t of a yearly holding was 

 } ustified m puttinghimself to a great expense, because his present 

 landlord might die, and he knew not who might then have it 



In those cases it sometiQies happened that the landlord might 

 say, when the farm was looking well, " I do not want to lose you, 

 but then I must have more money;" aud perhapS', by having a 

 notice to quit, this brought him and his family mto difficulties. 

 If ever they passed by a farm (generally speaking) that 

 was badly cultivated, and made the inquiry of the tenant, 

 " How is it you do not farm better ?" the reply was, " I 

 am only a yearly tenant, and I must do the best I can." 

 Many had told them that the reason they could not do better 

 arose from the circumstance of their being only yearly 

 tenants. Although they advocated a lease upon a farm, very 

 much depended upon the conditions of that lease whether a 

 man could put that farm into a good state or not. He (the 

 speaker) called a seven years' lease no lease at all, in fact he 

 would rather he a yearly tenant in such a case; but if a 

 tenant had a fourteen years' lease he could go to work, for his 

 hands were not then so much tied. He did not think, 

 however, that a landlord was justified in letting for a long 

 lease to a man who takes a farm and puts nothing on it, such 

 an one was not entitled to a lease. There ought to be an un- 

 derstanding between landlord and tenant that the lease should 

 be an open one until within the last one or two years of its 

 expiration, so that there might be sufficient time allowed the 

 latter for recovering himself. He did not like the idea of 

 being compelled to adhere to certain rules, that wheat must be 

 sown one year, and turnips another, and soon; for his own. 

 part he was holding under an agreement to sow how he liked 

 until within the last two years of the expiration of the lease. 

 Mr. Saunders then repeated his argument, that if they saw a 

 farm badly managed, it generally turned out to be a yearly 

 tenure. He then cited a case where a man had a farm in 

 Hampshire, wbich was much stocked with rabbits aud hares. 

 The tenant gave notice that he should give it up at the ex- 

 piration of his lease. The farm was offered to others, but no 

 one appeared willing to take it, on account of its being so in- 

 fested with rabbits, &c., and the consequence was the landlord 

 was obliged to take it into his own hands. At length, how- 

 ever, some one came along and offered to take it, provided 

 these vermin were only got rid of ; and the landlord having 

 consented, a great number of rabbits were destroyed. He 

 (Mr. S.) would advise everyone to have the damage done by 

 the rabbits taken into consideration in their agreement. If 

 the landlord paid for it, it would be all very well. He should 

 be sorry, however, to place any restriction upon the landlord, 

 and he hoped that he should always be able to see his own 

 have a good day's sport. As for rabbits, he called them no 

 sport : they were nothing but vermin. In conclusion, he ob- 

 served that if a man did not manage his farm well during the 

 first lease, a second ought not to be granted him. No doubt 

 there were a great many good landlords in this county to 

 yearly tenants, but he thought a tenant of that description 

 was not justified in farming " up to the mark," as if he held 

 under a lease. If a man had a lease for 12 or 14 years the 

 landlord ought to do many things towards improving the 

 farm, and the tenant should be expected to do a great many 

 more. He again urged the necessity of long leases. 



After a few observations from Mr. Clarke, Mr. Reader, and 

 others, 



Mr. Jackson said it so happened that he had rented one 

 farm as a yearly tenant, aud one he had held under a lease. 

 The first he took was as a yearly tenant, and the farm was 

 very much out of condition, for it tad been very badly managed. 

 However, he set to work to improve it ; aud after some few 

 years he had the satisfaction of seeing it produce good crops ; 

 but he soon after had the misfortune of feeling the ill effects 

 of the system alluded to by Mr. Reader. He found that 

 although he was trying to produce good crops, he had those 

 vermin (rabbits) come and eat them up. It was true, he had 

 one of the best landlords he could possibly wish, but he had 

 the misfortnna of having some one to go between and make 

 mischief; circumstances being misrepresented as regarded the 

 damage done by the rabbits. Mr. Jackson then went on to 

 say that he obtained leave to kill what rabbits and hares he 

 thought proper, and an improvement soon took place. At 

 length, however, he desired to leave the farm, but did not like 

 leaving behind what he had put upon it. He therefore asked 

 permission to choose a tenant to take the same off his hands : 

 but the consequence was the rent was to be raised, on acount 

 of the improveoients which had been made. The result of this 

 was that he could not demand so much of the in-coming tenant 



