222 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



that which made so much noise in England, in which 

 certain persons persisted in denying the miraculous pro- 

 duce of Italian ryegrass. The cultivators of timothy- 

 grass did not give the cause of that produce of 500 

 quintals (25 tons) per hectare. But when I look upon 

 all the care bestowed upon it — the showers of liquid 

 manure and the drainage, and steam coming to the 

 help of man — I, for my part, am convinced of the truth 

 of the assertions. They have sought for their plant at 



the extremity of Italy, and, laying under contribution 

 that energetic native of the South, have united it with 

 the industrial activity of the North. 



And we also have our game to play. We will go to 

 the Tropics, and bring from thence those vigorous 

 grasses, the annual shoots of which exceed in height 

 our coppices ; and the Panicum, the Anmclo, and the 

 Echinops shall cover our fields. 



AUGUSTE DE GaSPARIN. 



A FARM TO LET. 



Fakm to Let. And the whole world at once be- 

 comes keenly alive to the fact. Tllere is scarcely any 

 kind of advertisemeut that would tell better. A. B. or 

 X. Y. Z. is inundated with applications by the very 

 next post, and for a week or two resigns himself to 

 quite a plague of correspondence. Should he only fur- 

 ther announce where lie may be met with, the matter 

 becomes more serious still. There is always some- 

 body waiting to see him, while candidates for the place 

 lour at one another in ante-rooms, or race for it from 

 stations and way-sido taverns. No matter where he 

 may be, in the wilds of Wales or the suburbs of Lon- 

 don, good men are sure to follow him. They have all 

 alike capital and character at their backs, and the 

 only real difficulty is to make a selection. Or, even 

 put it less publicly than this. It comes merely to be 

 whispered that the tenant at the Grange is " going." 

 He has made a fortune or lost one — it does not much 

 signify which it be — or has committed himself in a 

 rather too independent speech at a market ordinary 

 —or has voted the wrong way — or has complained of 

 the game — or refused to submit to another rise — or 

 has courted his notice to quit in some shape or other, 

 and has got it. Never mind what the reason is. There 

 are plenty of friends and neighbours more than anxious 

 to stand in his stead — to make fortunes or to lose them, 

 but never to make speeches — to vote black or white as 

 they may be directed — to have no objection to a good 

 head of game, and to pay a higher rent from to-morrow 

 morning. The price of wlieat may still promise a 

 falling average, but this after all can have very little 

 to do with the business. Farms continue to let well, 

 and more people than ever wish to have them. 



Of course one of these causes conduces very much to 

 the other. For a comparatively long period, too, has 

 this been so. Agents who have their estates in anything 

 like proper condition know this well enough, and the 

 tenants are equally aware of it. An eligible farm will 

 now be taken by f=ome one or another on almost any 

 terms. If the cautious, practical man hesitates, the 

 dashing speculator jumps over his head in an instant. 

 And yet we continue to argue the nice question of 

 Landlord and Tenant as if it was quite an even-handed, 

 give-and-take proposition. The owner of the soil, to 

 begin with, should not entertain the offer of any man 

 who has not both ample means and experience to sup- 

 port his application. So far so good. With the slight- 

 est possible precaution, such a sort of occupier is very 

 easily available. On the other hand, it is maintained 

 the tinant should never think of entering on a farm 

 without he has a long lease— no restriction as to crop- 

 ping nor cultivaticm covenants — the right of the game 

 reserved to himself — freedom of opinion — a fair rental, 

 and so forth So far is this so ^ood again, but only so 

 far as it is feasible. 'In ninety-nine cases out of a hun- 

 dred, the man who stipulated in such a wise for the Bill, 

 the whole Bill and nothing but the Bill, would never get 

 into a farm at all, unless he travelled to the bankft^f the 



Nile, or discovered it for himself in some" new country" 

 in the Colonies. But it is sufficiently noticeable that, 

 even as regards that great "indispensable," the long 

 lease, a large body of the tenantry care little or nothing 

 about it. There are many extensive estates at this time 

 where the offer of one has been generally refused. De- 

 spite the increase of competition, and the more expensive 

 business farming is every day becoming, men would ap- 

 pear to be best satisfied with fair compensation clauses, 

 allowing them a due return for what they left behind 

 them when it was fated they should go. Naturally a 

 great deal of this is traceable to a good understanding, 

 or kindly feeling, between the two classes. And here, as 

 by far the stronger contracting power of the two, the 

 landlord and his agent may still do much to render the 

 position of the tenants what it should be in an age 

 when so much in the way of intelligence, skill, energy, 

 and means is required of them. Discuss it as we may, 

 the farmer has not the opportunity to dictate his own 

 terms. He cannot break through the standing orders 

 and model agreement of the office, and say, " I will do 

 this land just as I like, and on no other conditions." 

 It would be vain, indeed, for him to tell the country 

 gentlemen there should be no more shooting about 

 these parts. But, on the contrary, a little mutual con- 

 sideration may do a great deal. The progress of agri- 

 culture within the last twenty years, say what the 

 critics will, has been very marked in this country ; 

 and to a man who has been educated to appreciate 

 such an advancement you can offer no greater injustice 

 than a line and rule "form," that enacts he shall go 

 just so far as his forefathers did, and no further. There 

 must be a little more liberty of action; some gradual 

 giving way to the spirit of the times. It will be the 

 same with the preservation of game. When the due 

 use of every acre of land is looked for, some limit to 

 such an excess must come. On many of our most 

 famous properties such a course has already been 

 adopted. Modern agriculture, in a word, is being per- 

 mitted a fair opportunity of deve oping its capabilities, 

 and under such circumstances rents may yet remain 

 comparatively high, though in a correspondinor ratio 

 corn is relatively low. By the more recent signs of 

 the times corn rents would threaten to go out of fashion. 

 Let it not be assumed that we are writing up rents. 

 Very far from it. We are simply speaking to facts. 

 The laws of supply and demand have always regu- 

 lated each other. The run for farms was never 

 stronger than it is at present. Whether this be war- 

 ranted or not we need not stay to cimsider. If, again, 

 it be the more legitimate bidding of one practical man 

 against another, or merely a certain " rage" amongst 

 amateurs, is not so much to the purpose. However 

 it has come about, the owners of the land have the 

 game very much in their own hands. Let them not 

 abuse any privilege they may have of making their 

 own terms, but rather let them be more careful 

 and considerate for those they are dealing with. With the 



