THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



475 



with such inaction. Show that a preaaing necessity exists, and 

 1 believe we are the men to grapple the more resolutely with 

 the difficulty, rather than allow real and imaginary obstacles 

 to deter us from exertion. Would a surgeon decline to adjust 

 a limb because it was a compound fracture? and shall we de- 

 cline to adjust a difficulty because it is a compound question ? 

 There is a necessity — there is a need of remedy ; and I have 

 that high opinion of the honour and nobility of the landlords 

 of England, that I believe, if properly asked, they would be 

 the first to accord their consent to a proposition of justice and 

 fairness. This has been my experience of tiieir everyday 

 baariug ; but the necessity must be proved. Then to illus- 

 trate the point : the unprotected improving tenant's position 

 is precisely that of a capitalist who obtains leave to build, 

 and actually builds a house at cousiierable cost, upou another 

 man's property, without first obtaiiiiug a building lease. The 

 capitalist unexpectedly receives notice to quit his newly 

 erected residence, from which he has derived no benefit ; but 

 as he has no agreement to retain possession, to sell, or to re- 

 ceive an equivalent, he leaves his one, two, or three thousand 

 pounds in the household property to the quiet enjoyment of 

 the owner of the soil. Now tenant farmers don't require to 

 build houses, but they do require to iuve3t hundreds and hun- 

 dreds of thousands of pounds in improving their occupations 

 by draining, marling, deep ploughing, manuring, and by these 

 and other improved modes of culture, to increase the fertility 

 of their occupations some twenty, thirty, forty, or fifty per 

 cent. It is greatly to the interest of the tenant farmer to im- 

 prove his holding; but to improve and,thento receive notice to 

 quit, without obtaining an equivalent for the capital invested, 

 is Bimply to leave to the quiet possession of the owner of the 

 soil a large proportion of his (the tenant's) rightful properly. 

 Now, it is to protect the tenant farmers of England from such 

 casualties that I desire to see a friendly adjustment. Business 

 transactions may not hinge upon words of honour. Nought 

 but legal security is true security. The present ancient cus- 

 tom of the country is no real protection. I know it may be 

 said that acts of injustice, whether arrising from death, change 

 of ownership, or from private or political caprice, ate rare. 

 Now, to my knowledge such instances are not unfrequent. 

 Were they as recurrent and as abundant as blackberries in 

 autumn there would be an cud to all tenancy holdings ; but it 

 is a fact, that tens of thousands of pounds are thus annually 

 and wrongfully sacrificed ! and the whole subject calls for 

 serious consideration and a fair and equitable arrangement. 

 Investments and improvements iu agriculture are nearly syno- 

 nymous terms, and without protection to capital the result 

 mint necessarily be— limited outlaj', retarded progress, and a 

 curtailed national yield in produce. How detrimental is such 

 restricted outlay to the best interests of the landlord as well 

 as the tenant ! What has made the Holkham estate the agri- 

 cultural pride of England, and the admiration of every visitant 

 foreigner? Certainly not doubt and distrust in the relation- 

 ship of landlord and tenant— certainly not restricted outlay 

 and stinted protection to capital, but a wise and liberal-minded 

 policy on the part of the landlord, and spirited outlay from a 

 spirited (because a secure) tenantry. Through the Earl of 

 Leicester's excellent and much respected agent (Mr. Keary) I 

 have his lordship's permission to state that, within the past 

 half century, the entire Holkam property has increased in ren- 

 tal value to the enormous amount of upwards of 50 per cent. 

 I will simply leave this important fdct to the consideration of 

 the landlords of England. I trust they may see that liberality 

 of sentiment and liberality of action are not without their 

 personal and pecuniary rewards. 

 In the agreementa between landlord and tenant, the 



general failing is extreme protection to the landlord, in 

 undue stringency ; and no real protection against bad farm- 

 ing and mis-management. In hiring a farm, I would deci- 

 dedly and willingly pay more money as rent for the advan- 

 tages of farming as I pleased, without being placed under 

 legal tutors and governors in my cultivation, and at 

 the same time I would freely consent to the agreement that 

 the farm should be improved and not impaired at the expi- 

 ration of my tenancy. The more I could make from my 

 occupation, the more could I afford to pay to my landlord a« 

 rent. 



I now arrive at that much vexed and delicate question- 

 Game. Upbn the present indefinite system as to the 

 amount of game to be kept, and the amount of damage to be 

 incurred by the tenant farmer, it must ever remain a most 

 trying, vexatious, and perplexing question. I know it may 

 be said a landlord has a right to do as he pleases with his 

 own ; this I freely accord ; but it must be remembered that 

 though the soil belongs to the owner, the crop is the pro- 

 perty of the occupant, and under such circumstances the 

 only just course to be pursued is fairly to fix the amount of 

 damage to be borne by the tenant farmer at £5, £10, £50, 

 or £100 per annum, as the case may be, and all increase of 

 such damage to be paid by the landlord. Such an arrange- 

 ment makes the agreement clear and distinct; it puts aside 

 all mistrust; it places the burden upon the right shoulders ; 

 the tenant knows his obligation, the landlord his liberty to 

 keep any amount of ground or wing game he pleases, with- 

 out a murmur from the tenant as occupier ; more rent, 

 under a reasonable arrangement, can fairly be demanded 

 a-id paid; and in different cases I have seen this arrange- 

 ment work with perfect justice and satisfaction. It has 

 been my good fortune, in some instancL-s, recently to insert 

 such a game clause in different leases, and I believe in each 

 case it will work to the mutual advantage of landlord and 

 tenant. I long to see this question clearly and definitely 

 settled generally, and I invite owners and occupiers to meet 

 the difficulty in the spirit of honourable and open-handed 

 justice, and not to arm might against right, but to place 

 their relationship upon the true principles of just responsi- 

 bility and definite agreements. It was my pleasure recently 

 to have the opportunity of inspecting the Duke of Grafton's 

 Euston estate, in Suffolk, which is under the able agency of 

 my friend, Mr. G. Kersey Cooper. Amidst general first- 

 class management and first-class farming, nothing struck me 

 more forcibly than the fact that, though a large light-land 

 property containing upwards of 15,000 acres, no injury 

 is done by hares or rabbits; they are kept well under ; yet 

 the spirting is excellent, pheasants and partridges abounding, 

 and, at the same time, the rent roll is undoubtedly from 

 twenty to fifty per cent, higher than if the crops in 

 the fields, and the underwood in the plantations, were par- 

 tially destroyed by ground game. Thus, sport and a large 

 rental return are alike secured; the landlord avoids 

 continual annoyance, and the tenantry are happy and 

 contented. 



Can the position of Agriculture be improved politically ? 

 There are legislative and fiscal regulations which materially 

 affect the per-centage returns of agriculture. I allude, 

 more especially, to the malt-tax, which, I believe, curtails 

 the growth of barley, lessens its price, lessens its consump- 

 tion, and is a positive detriment to the profits of farming. 

 I have always supposed that supply and demand controlled 

 the price of every commodity, and how a heavy duty which 

 materially checks consumption, which vastly increases 

 adulteration in the substitution of drugs and other delete- 



