THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



413 



tice. But with improvements in principle those of 

 construction also steadily advanced, and the clumsy 

 heavy wooden framing gave place to that of the light, 

 the strong, and the durable wrought-iron. 



Up to a certain period that form of plough known as 

 the swing was almost invariably used. The introduc- 

 tion of the wheeled plough, however, gave rise to a 

 spirited— and not yet exhausted — controversy as tp the 

 comparative merits of the two implements, and instituted 

 a marked distinction between the ploughs of England 

 and the sister-country. The question in dispute may, 

 we think, be compromised, if not settled, by a simple 

 consideration to which we propose hereafter to refer. 



The introduction of scientifically improved mould- 



boards, of the case-hardened sock (the celebrated inven- 

 tion of Robert Ransome), the iron body, and the light 

 and durable framing, resulted in bringing the imple- 

 ment to a state ofcompartive perfection; and by the case 

 with which the various parts could be multiplied, all cha- 

 racterized by the same peculiarities of the original pat- 

 tern, placing it in the hands of the practical farmer 

 in a form which could be maintained in continual re- 

 pair and in good working order at a small expendi- 

 ture. The position which the plough now holds, and 

 the peculiarities of its construction, will be best exempli- 

 fied in a somewhat detailed description of a form 

 which without ignoring the merits of those of other 

 makers, may be taken as a type of the modern plough. 



A LANDLORD ON TENANT-RIGHT. 



" The Agricultural Question may be 

 summed up in three expressive tvords — 

 Skill, Capital, and Security. To ensure 

 prosperity, a farmer must possess some 

 skill, judiciously apply his capital, and 

 he has a right to expect security, either 

 in long leases, or in compensation for un- 



EXHAUSTED IMPROVEMENTS." Let thOSC tWO SUg- 



gestive sentences stand out from the many speeches of 

 the autumn. Rarely, indeed, is it, that we find so 

 much good matter so closely packed, or so nicely ad- 

 justed. They come to us, moreover, upon the best 

 authority. It is no new man who is talking in this 

 way. No aspiring amateur who makes his bid for po- 

 pularity and attention, with " skill, capital, and se- 

 curity." It is not even the tenant-farmer who is thus 

 bold enough to strike out his own course, and claim his 

 own rights. They are the landlords, after all, who are 

 beginning to think and to speak like this. Not, let it 

 be understood, the Manchester school of landlord, who 

 naturally bring their commercial habits to bear upon 

 everything they are engaged in. It is, on the contrary, 

 " the Country Party," the old school of English gen- 

 tlemen from whom these dicta emanate. It was with 

 these very words that Sir John Pakington lately 

 proceeded to address the members of the Worcester- 

 shire Agricultural Society. 



It was, indeed, a fine theme, had the right honour- 

 able Baronet only thought fit to follow it out. As it 

 is, the mere utterance of such sentiments " speaks 

 volumes" for the landed proprietors of this kingdom. 

 It is a fact that shows of itself how certainly a good 

 principle is gradually extending, and beating down 

 prejudice before it, in its triumphant course. It is not 

 so many years since when a landowner was taught to 

 look upon that same phrase " compensation for unex- 

 hausted improvement" as a kind of indefinite evil, he 

 should be careful to keep at arm's length. As for the 

 still more direct assertion of a tenant-right, that came 

 to rank in something the same category as high trea- 

 son, heresy, or wilful corruption of the people. We 

 have known weak-minded men who have been posi- 



tively so frightened out of their own opinions— who, after 

 admitting and advocating the justice of the question, 

 have quietly shrunk away from their own standard. 

 The time was not come. The landowners would not 

 submit to the exercise of such a right. Farmers must 

 take care to make themselves safe by private agreement. 

 The valuations difiered so much in difierent localities. 

 The thing, in fact, was impractical. The House of 

 Commons would not have it. And so worthy men, who 

 could go well enough with a winning cause, gradually 

 withdrew from what they took to be a losing one. 



But what is the fact ? Let any one take these three 

 <' expressive words" of Sir John Pakington— Skill, 

 Capital, and Security— and ask himself one or two 

 home-questions over them. Can any man for a mo- 

 ment suppose that skill and capital will go on doing all 

 they should do, without that third great essential-- 

 security? In an age when we want even yet more 

 skill and capital brought to bear upon the land, will it 

 do for landlords to ignore the only terms upon which it 

 can be honestly employed ? Sir John maintains that, 

 either by a lease or by compensation, we have a right 

 to expect this. It is a well-known truth— we will not 

 stay to consider how it is so— that a large majority of 

 our tenant-farmers neither have leases, neither do they 

 wish for them. No farmer yet, however, was known 

 to refuse a compensation-clause in his agreement, or to 

 do otherwise than uphold any " custom" which ensured 

 him this. We must so arrive at the same end by which- 

 ever way may be the easier. The road here is clear 

 enough ; and it will only be idle to attempt to stop up 

 a path by which our neighbours will travel. 



Fairly started and closely discussed at the outset, 

 this tenant-right claim has now for some time been 

 left to depend on its own innate merits. It would be 

 useless to deny that strong efi'orts were made in some 

 quarters to give it "a bad name." People not 

 originally consulted on, or not really acquainted with, 

 its object, were at once for pooh-poohing it as a mere 

 party-purpose cry, or something worse. Landowners, 

 instructed by agents in whose offices Routine held sove- 

 reign sway, looked on it, as we have said, with preju» 



