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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE 



judges of what is proper to be done, not even allowing 

 the tenant to have any voice in the matter ; yet a heavy 

 rent, it may be, is exacted for every square yard of the 

 farm, while the tenant is allowed control over only part 

 of it, and, before he can break up an old bad-feeding 

 grass field, he must go, cap in hand, to his landlord or 

 agent, and ask leave to exercise his own judgment, and 

 to break through an absurd rule founded in ignorance 

 and prejudice. Everyone knows that an old grass field, 

 imperfectly free of weeds and rubbish, and in a proper 

 feeding state as to the quality of the grass, will remu- 

 nerate a tenant as well, or probably better in grass than 

 in producing any other crop ; but a tenant ought by aU 

 means invariably to be allowed to judge for himself what 

 is best to be done without being hampered by his landlord . 

 Should a farm be situated in the neighbourhood of the 

 proprietor's residence, it may be natural for him to in- 

 sist that any old grass fields shall not be broken up 

 without leave, because he may be anxious that such 

 fields should continue to have a park-like appearance. 

 But when a farm may be miles from the residence of the 

 proprietor, what difference, I would ask, can it make to 

 him what fields are ploughed, and what fields are not 

 ploughed, providing the tenant is otherwise fulfilling his 

 conditions by farming well and paying his rent ? For 

 when he has control over his whole farm, he is certainly 

 in a position to pay a higher rent than when he is 

 fettered by such absurd conditions as some illiberal 

 landlords and primitive agents impose. Some antiquated 

 proprietors and agents say that tenants, even although 

 they have leases, ought not to be allowed to plough up 

 old grass land without leave, because for a time they 

 may make £20 or ^30 per acre yearly, and afterwards 

 the farm is of less value than it was before. I 

 believe such an argument to be downright nonsense and 

 preposterous. But suppose they can make the half of 

 that sum — suppose they can make say £15 yearly per 

 acre by exercising their own judgment in ploughing their 

 fields, to my mind there cannot be a better argument 

 why they ought to be allowed such liberty, for then they 

 can surely afford to pay a better rent. A clever tenant 

 ought assuredly to know as well as either landlord or 

 agent, whether fields in corn or grass will pay him best, 

 and therefore he ought not to be trammelled by either in 

 the exercise of his own judgment. Some covenants 

 which have been longest in favour among landlords are 

 so short-sighted and absurd that they incurred the 

 reprobation of the justly-celebrated Arthur Young at a 

 time when modern improvement was only dawning, and 

 when few of the chief grounds of objections to 

 conditions had come to light ; and several of these 

 covenants are so argued and demolished in his ' Farm- 

 ers' Guide,' published in 1770, that they ought long 

 ago to have buried themselves among the obsolete things 

 of the old-world history. One of these conditions 

 is, that the tenant must not break up any old 

 grass land. But many fields are overrun with 

 brambles, thistles, dockins, ferns, nettles, and all 

 kinds of rubbish, and although cleared, grubbed, and 

 manured, would only bring forth other varieties of 

 weeds, or put on a new facp of worthle ssness ; and ye 



these fields must not be ploughed ! Or, fields which 

 have been laid down by the landlord or by a former 

 tenant as permanent pastures, may contain a large pro- 

 portion of short-lived grasses, and speedily become of 

 little value per acre ; and yet they must not be touched ! 

 Or, soils which for seven, eight, or ten years yield the 

 finest crops of grass, may be of such a nature as after- 

 wards to lose their graminiferous fertility, and be inca- 

 pable of re-acquiring it, except through the alternation 

 of tillage ; and yet they must not be subjected to the 

 plough ! Well might Mr, Young, in his excellent book, 

 justly exclaim, " Such a covenant is absurd and in- 

 tolerable." Landlords and agents, with their absurd 

 and primitive notions as to the conditions of a lease, 

 ought to read and study Mr. Young's excellent book ; 

 for, although written ninety years ago, they may derive 

 some useful information from it. 



My landlord, an excellent man, has no such absurd 

 fetters in his leases in regard to old grass ; for although 

 all his tenantry are bound to a certain mode of cultiva- 

 tion, not one is restricted as to what fields he is to 

 plough, or what to let alone. Everyone is properly 

 permitted to exercise his own judgment until within the 

 last five years of the end of his lease, when he is bound 

 not to plough any old grass without leave. I believe, 

 were our landlord or agent to propose to any of his nu- 

 merous tenantry at the commencement of a lease to 

 restrict them in exercising their own judgment as to 

 breaking-up certain fields which have been at one time 

 under the plough, both would be reckoned more fit for 

 an asylum than going at large. 



I am, Sir, yours very respectfully, 



A North Country Farmer. 



October 28th, 1857. 



THE CUNNING OF THE RAVEN.— In the nar- 

 rative of the Arctic voyage of Captain M'Clure, of the 

 British Navy, is the following story of the two ravens, 

 which became domiciliated on board the Investiga- 

 tor. The raveu, it appears, is the onlj^ bird that willingly 

 braves a Polar winter, and in the depth of the season he is 

 seen to flit through the cold and sunless atmosphere like an 

 evil spirit, his sullen croak alone breaking the silence of the 

 death-like scene. No one of the crew attempted to shoot 

 the ravens, and they consequently became very bold, as 

 will be seen from the following story : — " Two ravens now 

 established themselves as frieuds of the family in Mercer 

 Baj', living mainly by what little scraps the men might 

 have thrown away after meal times. The ship's dog, how- 

 ever, looked upon these as his especial perquisites, and ex- 

 hibited considerable energy in maintaining his rights against 

 the ravens, who nevertheless outwitted him in a way which 

 amused every one. Observing that he appeared quite will- 

 ing to make a mouthful of their own sable persons, they 

 used to throw themselves intentionally in bis way, just as 

 the mess-tins were being cleaned out on the dirt-heap, out- 

 side the ship. Tlie dog would immediately ran at them, 

 and they would fly a feW yards ; the dog then made ano- 

 ther run, and again they would appear to escape him but 

 by an inch, and so on, until they had tempted and provoked 

 him to the shore, a considerable distance off. Then the 

 ravens would make a direct flight for the ship, and had ge- 

 nerally done good execution before the mortified-looking 

 dog detected the imposition that had been practised upon 

 him, and rushed back iiaain," 



