l8od. of the County of Northumherland. jit 



dry, that the value of the produce (hould not much exceed 

 what is paid for rent in fome other diftri£ls. 



We confefs we are not fond of analyzing the different cal- 

 culations upon which the above balance is founded j becaufe 

 the gentlemen who offer them are undoubtedly better qualified 

 to judge of their correflnefs, than we who refide at a diftance, 

 and are unacquainted with the rate of Northumberland mar- 

 kets. Still we mud remark, that neither oats nor barley, 

 under exifting circum (lances, can be raifed by a farmer at the 

 prices mentioned. Twenty years ago, fuch a fcale might have 

 been juft ; but, at this time, the farmer is not able to difpofe 

 of his produce, during the currency of a lease^ at thefe low 

 prices ; though it may happen, that, during a particular year, 

 when matkets are low, he may only receive the value which 

 is ftated. 



The decreafed value of grafs land, from fuffering it to re- 

 main three years unploughed, is obvious, from what is ftated 

 in p. 36, and is nearly agreeable to what we have uniformly 

 found to be the cafe in our practice. Thirty-three per cent, 

 lofs the fecond year, and double that fum the third year, are 

 good arguments for breaking it up at an earlier period i though 

 the furveyors, in another part of the work, affign ftrong 

 reafons for the exifting practice. We believe, however, that 

 the increafed value of the turnip crop will not compenfate 

 for 3I. Sterling, loft by the poffdTor, during the time he kept 

 the land in grafs, exceeding the Norfolk term of one year. 



At the fame time we admit, that a confiderable proportion 

 of Northumberland (perhaps three-fourths) is not naturally 

 calculated for 3 regular courfe of crops, though the remainder, 

 we believe, is managed in as complete a ftyle as any other part 

 of the ifland. The tenants are therefore in the right, when 

 they adopt fuch a fyftem, as is moft confonant to the fcveral 

 varieties of foil v/hich they occupy j and if it is found that 

 turnips and corn cannot be raifed in a profitable way without 

 permitting the land to be previoufly refreftied by grafs, for 

 more years than one, it is certainly advantageous that the 

 plough fliould be ufed fparingly in all fuch fituations. It is 

 upon this principle that we have conftantly contended againft 

 reftridlive covenants, becaufe they neceflarily preclude difcre- 

 tionary management, and occafion the fame line of hufbandry 

 to be followed out, whether the foil and other circumftances 

 permit fuch an uniformity. 



The 



