THE FARMKR'3 MAGAZINE. 



257 



Assortment of implements, \l. 10s., to T. Pickering, Drifliolil 



Reaping machine anj prize waggon, hi., to Wm. Crosskill, 

 Beverley 



Patent (urnip cuttcrand double acting haymaker, 2?., to North 

 of Knj;land Implement Company 



Assortment of ploughs and new cultivator, 2L, to Robert Belt, 

 West l.utton 



Improved drag harrow, I!., to James Teal, Holme 



Il;irill" and blowing machine combined, 10s., to George Pink- 

 ney, UriiUington 



Kiibinson's [latent clod crusher roller and horse rake, U. 10s., 

 to Matthew Dale, Bridlington 



Strong farmers' waggon, U., to Geo. Ewbank, AVest Lutton 



Two waggons, 1/., to .losepii Pctcli, Frodingliam 

 Improved farmers' wa'.;gon, U., to William Winders, Wetwang 

 Sheep rack. lOs., to Wm. Smith 



Phaeton, U., to II. Weatherill, Paragon-street, Hull 

 Improved dog-carts, &c., U , to Puckering and Houlgate, 

 Beverley 

 Malvern dog-carts, 10s., to William Roberts, Dritfield 

 Single horse omnibus, 10s., to Francis Bradley, Driffield 

 SeutJler, 10s., to U. Belt, West Lutton 

 Straw cutter, 10s., to G. Pinkney, Bridlington 

 Steam engine, 3/., to — Davy.'*, Brotliing 

 Thrashing machine, hi., to — Naylor, Winterton 

 Heaping machine, 31, to Thomas Watson, Genibling 



R E V I E W S 



A TRE.\TISE ON THE L\W OF THE FARM. 

 By Henry Hall Dixon, Barrister-at-Law. 



Loudon: Stephens and Norton, Bell-jard, I^iucoln's Ian. 

 1858. 



'•The present work," says the author, "is an attempt to 

 draw together, for the 6rst time, the principal legal decisious 

 which btar upon tbe every-day incidents of a fanner's life." 

 Those words are a true description of the work ; and that he 

 has succeeded in the compilation of the most vdhiable aid the 

 farmer ever possessed will be evident to all who j^lance over its 

 pajes. There is not a legal question in coauection «ith agri- 

 culture hut is treated on, and decisious giveu in similar cases by 

 the judges of the laud quoted in explanation and in reference 

 thereto. The first chapter is on " Tenant Right." Taking 

 the report of the Committee of 1848 as his guide, be refers to 

 what tenant right is de facto, not the tenant right about which 

 so many debatei have taken place within the last ten years. 

 He says "tenant right" is "the claim for remuntration 

 which an out-goiug agricidtural tenant has on his landlord for 

 various operations of husbandry, the ordinary return of which 

 he is precluded from receiving by the termiuation of his 

 tenancy, is termed ' tenant-right,' and is governed by the dif- 

 ferent customs which have long prevailed in the counties and 

 districts of the United Kingdom. These customs are fre- 

 quently most conflicting and difficult to define. In many 

 counties they scarcely exist at all ; in others it is rather the 

 custom of districts, and in many the custom merely of certain 

 estates. They are imported into leases or agreements for the 

 letting and occupation of land, and imless the agreement,"ex- 

 pressly or by implication, excludes the custom of the country, 

 the landlord aud tenant are presumed to contract with refer- 

 ence to it. Tenant-right extends to the crop which the out- 

 goiug tenant has sown and leaves in the ground, aud to remu- 

 neration for the preparation of the soil for crops by tillage, for 

 the straw, hay, and occasionally dung left on the farm, ard for 

 growing unt'erwood. Of late year.s, the term has happily been 

 understood in a much wider and more liberal sense, aud in 

 many parts of the coimtry a usage has spruug, which confers 

 a right on the out-goiug tenant to be re-imbursed for certain 

 other expenses incurred by Isira in cultivation beyond thu-e of 

 mere ordinary husbandry. Among such expenses are the pur- 

 chase of food for ati.ck, as well as of certnin kinds of manure, 

 and the draining, chalking, aud marling of the soil. If there 

 be no usage to that effect, and no express stipulation, the 

 out-going tenant can claim no compensation for any of these 

 improvements, however short may be the time between their 

 cotnpletion and the termination of his occnpauey. In practice, 

 the compensation agreed to be paid by the landlord to tbe out- 

 going tenant, is paid by the in-coming one. The cost of the 

 several improvements ia found by valuers, who spread the 

 amount over a certain number of years, within which each kind 

 of improvement respectively is supposed to repay itself, and 

 deduct the time during which the tenant has enjoyed the bene- 

 fit of it. It would simplify their calculations if the Michael- 

 mas entry was uiiiver»al." 



He then givc.5 the agricu'tural cuatriuii as observed in the 

 diflcrcnt counties, bearing en the observance of the systems of 

 hiring the hud, and takii'g the crops, &e.,from the out-going 

 by the iu-coiLiiug teunut ; and the allovvauce?, if f.iij, s\liicU 



m^y be ca'led " Tenant-right," claimed by the former. This 

 part is a valuable little epitome of thirty-three pages — a beau- 

 tifully condensed history of the fdirmer's position iu every 

 county in England and Wales. 



"Interests in Land" ia the subject taken up in the 

 next chapter— which shows when a contract a? substantially 

 amounting to a sale or parting with an interest in land, or the 

 produce of lund, must be writing. The interests iu land 

 being very various, reference is made to all of them, down to 

 digging turves, and decisions pertinent to each case given 

 from various authorities. 



The privileges which one neighbour has of another, by charter 

 or prescription, and which »re legally termed "Easements," 

 is next treated on. This is the most complicated point to a 

 farmer, involving aa it does so many and various topics : — the 

 riglit to construct and continue a drain — use the water of a 

 drain, or even to have the water flow in a drain — tbe right of 

 way for agricultural purposes, to cart manure, or timber, or 

 carriages of any kind — the right of way for a parson to take hia 

 tithe— the obstructing a footpath in a field. All these, and 

 many more " easements," are treated similarly to the other 

 matter before quoted, aud the best advice given to the farmer 

 as to all and every critical question which may arise in hia 

 occupation, 



Tne chapter on "Trees and Fences " ia most valuable. 

 Here the general property of trees being iu the landlord, the 

 Virions questions that may arise as to the right to lop them, 

 where tlie right ia not reserved by special covenant, is shown 

 in several instances. Exceptional timber is pointed out, and 

 the dtfinition of waste in trees given. This chapter branchea 

 into several matters connected with fences, and some interesting 

 questions of law as lately decided, on tlic obligntiou of railway 

 companies to fence their railways, aud where their liability 

 commences and ends in c».se of injury to animals getting on 

 their rails, are given. 



The law in respect to " Dangerous Animals " occupies 

 a chapter, a? also that in respect to " Water " The latter, in 

 these days of progress, ia one of great moment. The agri- 

 culturists of a century back, or even less, cared little as to 

 their rights in respect to irrigation, many of them not taking 

 heed of the value to be derived from the use cf water over 

 meadows, or for other purposes. The right of the landowner 

 to his land is not of more real cr substantia! value, than his 

 right to the w.-<tcr that may rise on, or flow through his l.md ; 

 hence every iiiformntion wdiich totiches on this moat beneficial 

 question, will be o( value to thoic who want knowledge on this 

 subject. 



Another knotty point, that of " Servants," occupies a 

 ehapttr. Servants ate called " helps " in America, and should 

 be so if they serve well and faithfully. Then they may be 

 truly called a mau'a friends. Yet how often has the farmer to 

 e.\clairo, in reference to liis servants, "Save me from my 

 friends" ! The knowledge of the law as regards master and 

 servant, we believe to be the most valuable in the work. 



"Conveyance of Horses and Cattle." In these 

 days of locomotion, as well as speculation, the liability of rail- 

 way companies, as well as that of ship owi.ers, is giveu very 

 fully. 



The law on "Distress," although it is one that ap- 

 pertains more properly to the landlord, yet in the event of mis- 

 fortune coming on the tenant, it is right hs siicaild know how 

 and when su'-h legal proceeding should be properly carried out, 



