314 Time of Entry on Farms. 



by special restrictions, and left rather to his own judo^ment and 

 fair disposition than subject to the peremptory dictation of his 

 landlord as regards the treatment of the soil to which he looks 

 for his livelihood and credit. 



Seed. — By entering upon his farm in autumn he has also the 

 opportunity of selecting his own seed-corn, instead of being 

 obliged to trust to the honour and discretion of the outgoing 

 tenant, and so can, with some confidence, look forward to a pros- 

 perous harvest. And this is a far greater advantage than it 

 might seem at the first blush ; for, trifling as the saving on the 

 amount of seed-corn would comparatively be to them, while the 

 result to theii successor is ruinous, still there are men mean 

 enough to defraud the in-comer of his due in that respect. 



III. — Store CArrLE. 



Our next argument in favour of an autumnal entry is that, 

 supposing, in this instance, the practice of Oxfordshire and other 

 counties to hold good — viz., that a crop of turnips be left by 

 covenant upon the land, while the hay and straw are allowed to 

 the in-coming tenant at a third below market price — supposing 

 this practice to hold good, or that the new tenant has liad the 

 opportunity of securing roots, hay and straw, at a fair price, he will 

 have a great advantage in being able to buy store-cattle and sheep 

 at autumn rather than spring prices. It is, in Suffolk, the general 

 practice to buy in, at the fall of the year, a lot of shorthorns, 

 polled Galloway Scots, and Irish cattle, to be house-fed, fat- 

 tened and sold in spring. 



In Buckinghamshire, again, the farmers purchase ewes during 

 the autumn to lamb in January and l)e sold off fat in summer. 

 Thus, during the dark winter months, he may turn over profitably 

 a portion of his capital while he has the opportunity of clearing 

 his way for the spring operations. 



IV. — Farm-Horses. 



His farm-horses too he may purchase at a considerably lower 

 figure in autumn, when the harvest work is over, tlian lie can in 

 spring. At that time they rise in value on the approach of active 

 field-work, and are often not to be bought at all, unless at a high 

 premium. The difference in the price of farm-horses in spring 

 and autumn, coupled with the profit the in-coming tenant will 

 reap from ploughing his own stubbles, I consider more than equal 

 to the cost of their winter-keep and attendants' wages. 



