LANDLORDS AND TENANTS 



sion of the farm for a period sufficiently long to 

 encourage investments in improvements, espe- 

 cially such improvements as are made in and upon 

 the soil by careful tilth and by the addition of 

 artificial fertilizers, and second, to secure the land- 

 lord against improper use of the property during 

 the last few years of the tenancy so that the farm 

 would be returned to the landlord in good con- 

 dition. "No department of the management of 

 an estate gives more uneasiness to both landlord 

 and tenant," says Marshall, "than do removals, 

 or exchanges of tenants; and every covenant 

 which facilitates this unpleasant business is 

 valuable." 1 



In the Norfolk leases the greater number of the 

 covenants which restrict the farmer in his opera- 

 tions, pertain to the last three years of the ten- 

 ancy. This was true to a greater or less extent 

 in the other counties where long term leases were 

 in use. This method of laying down restrictions 

 seems to have been based on the belief that the 

 interest of the tenant would lead him to farm in 

 accordance with the rules of good husbandry until 

 the last few years of the tenancy, at which time he 

 could increase his own profits by exhausting the 

 soil and leaving the farm in bad condition for the 

 incoming tenant. 



We wish to call especial attention to a cove- 

 nant given by Marshall as found in the Norfolk 



1 Rural Economy of Norfolk, second edition, Vol. I, p. 69. 

 295 



