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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



respect we are quite at a loss to account. The serious 

 annoyance and interruptions to the managing and im- 

 proving of landed iiroperty from copyholds, manifests 

 itself in a variety of ways, well known to manyby dear- 

 bought experience ; but we look forward to almost an 

 entire abrogation of this evil through the instrumentality 

 of the Enfranchisement Act. 



Then comes yearly tenancy exerting the same evil 

 tendency upon the melioration of farm-buildings that it 

 does upon every other agricultural improvement. Its 

 uncertainty encourages a system of patching ; it renders 

 it necessary for the landlord to undertake the 07ius of 

 keeping the premises in repair himself, so that there is 

 a constant patching-up, always doing, yet never done. 

 With some tenants a carelessness gradually steals on, 

 whilst others will have temporary conveniences, if they 

 should be at the first expense themselves, and for some 

 part at least they look forward to being paid by valua- 

 tion by the in-coming tenant ; and to such an extent 

 has this got in some instances, that it is difficult to know 

 what part of the premises belong to the landlord, and 

 what is claimed by the tenant. But in those parts of 

 the country where long leases have been a long-esta- 

 blished system, repairs are generally thrown upon the 

 tenant, and this item, duly taken into consideration by 

 him in oft'ering for the farm ; but of course he does not 

 accept of the premises in that insufficient and dilapidated 

 state which satisfies the yearly tenant. No ; before mak- 

 ing his bargain he thoroughly examines their condition, 

 stipulatfS what he considers necessary to be done, gets 

 everything put in good and substantial condition, agrees 

 to maintain them so during his tenancy, and to leave 

 them habitable and tenantable at the expiry of the lease, 

 under a penalty for non-fulfilment. Thus new buildings 

 are erected by the landlord, and kept in repair by the 

 tenant, who, being always on the spot, and using them, 

 is certainly, under a proper agreement, the most suitable 

 party to be entrusted with this duty. Indifference on 

 the part of landlords has also in many instances proved 

 a great barrier to efficiency in Agricultural Buildiogs. It 

 must, however, be gratifying to all interested in the 

 prosperity of agriculture to observe the lively interes ' 

 which the nobility and landlords of England are now 

 evincing in the cause, and under their patronage I feel 

 convinced that nothing requisite to promote her pro- 

 gress will be overlooked ; landlords will no longer look 

 upon money properly applied in erecting ample and 

 substantial farm-buildings as being thrown away, nor 

 consider it any economy to withhold from their tenants 

 any accommodation requisite for the proper cultivation 

 of their lands, nor request their tenants to erect at their 

 own expense a temporary and beggarly- looking faggot- 

 shed, which at the best can only afford half shelter to the 

 starving kine. No : landlords are now awake to the 

 fact, that, to carry out successful farming, warm, well- 

 ventilated, and ample accommodation for the stock must 

 be provided ; that upon occupations of ordinary extent 

 machinery must be fitted up, and steam or water-power 

 applied to perform with economy and expedition the 

 various operations to which it is applicable. 



And, finally, let us not forget the condition of the 

 labourer, setting out perhaps upon a journey of some 

 two miles before reaching the scene of his labours, and 

 after being heated to perspiration, or wetted by the 

 drizzling rain, he sits down in a cold out-house, or 

 under the shade of an aged tree, to partake of his cold 

 and scanty fare ; tired and weary with the labours of the 

 day, he again sets out upon his homeward journey. 

 This must produce its effects somewhere. A full day's 

 work cannot be got ; and premature old age must soon 

 consign him to some union workhouse. But the remedy 

 18 obvious. Erect cottages, at least for the horsemen 

 and stockmen, at some convenient distance from the 



steading, where the labourer will be at all times near to, 

 and ready for, his work, and sit down to his meals with 

 comfort by his own fireside. He will be free from the 

 contaminating influences of a village population, and 

 the corrupting effects of the alehouse. 



Such, Mr. Editor, are a few of the ideas which have 

 suggested themselves to me upon the subject of Agri- 

 cultural Buildings. Some of the evils I have mentioned 

 may be unknown in some parts of the country, but most 

 of them will be found to exist more or less in almost 

 every district. A proper description of skill has yet 

 scarcely been brought to bear upon the subject. The 

 "old estate carpenter," and the majority of farmers, 

 have as yet little idea of arranging a farmery consistent 

 with the requirements of modern machinery, and the 

 principles of improved husbandry. In most parts of 

 England they still adhere to the old system of erecting a 

 great barn in the centre, with a few sheds and lean-toos 

 huddled around ; whereas the architect who, under the 

 encouragement of some nobleman, has brought to bear 

 his scientific skill upon this subject, has generally gone 

 to such expense with useless and ornamental fancies, 

 that a poor rate of interest can only be obtained for the 

 outlay ; and for this reason the man of calculation at 

 once sets it aside as impractical. Nothing ornamental 

 is required, but everything that tends to good arrange- 

 ment and substantiality ; and this being kept in view, an 

 outlay on agricultural buildings becomes a profitable in- 

 vestment.* There can be no reason why the establish- 

 ments in which are manufactured the staple commodities 

 upon which the millions of Great Britain are fed should 

 not be conducted and arranged in that same orderly and 

 systematic style which characterizes the manufacture of 

 the fabrics with which they are clothed. The subject 

 well deserves attention. Agriculture, as the sinew and 

 backbone of British industry, requires the removal of 

 every impediment calculated to mar her progress ; and, 

 looking to the Briush legislature, she requests their in- 

 terference, by affording every facility to the exchange of 

 lands, and the straightening and adjusting of boundaries 

 between adjoining proprietors, by rendering it compul- 

 sory upon the one on demand of the other, upon fair and 

 equitable terms. The introduction of steam ploughing, 

 and other modern implements, must ere long demand 

 this alteration, for it is utterly inconsistent to suppose 

 that the whims and crotchets originating, and perhaps 

 necessary, during the dark ages of feudalism should still 

 be allowed to exist, to impede the progress of enlightened 

 civilization. Yours, &c., 



Wm. Arnott. 



Melton, Woodbridge, l&th Feb., 1858. 



THE GREAT OWNERS OF THE SOIL 

 IN IRELAND. 



Sir, — I have understood from the highest authority that 

 Ireland, take it all in all, is the finest country for land under 

 the sun, but it has been greatly neglected in the cultivation 

 of it. ]>et the owners of the laud in Ireland give the culti- 

 vators of it a tenant-right, alias justice, for money laid out in 

 unexhausted improvements upon their farms, and then it would 

 tempt a vast number of first class farmers from England and 

 Scotland to cultivate well the ill-used Irish soil, and would 

 soou cause the 4,000,000 acres of waste improvable land in 

 Ireland to be brought into a high state of cultivation, which 

 would be a fine example to all the world, there being in Ireland 

 2,330,000 acres of bogs, all drainable, all improvable. 



Samuel Arnsby. 



Mill Field, PeterborougJi, Feb. 24, 1858. 



* The best models of agricultural buildings to which we can 

 refer are to be found in Lincolnshire, and the more northern 

 counties of England, and generally throughout the best agri- 

 cultural districts in Scotland. 



