AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



The use of long leases declined rapidly in Eng- 

 land during the period following the close of the 

 continental wars. In those counties where they 

 had been most numerous and most beneficial, the 

 farmers came to prefer short leases or even ten- 

 ancy from year to year. The long lease as a 

 means of solving the tenant problem had been 

 "weighed in the balances and found wanting." 

 Yet it must be admitted that long leases had done 

 a great deal of good in promoting improvements 

 in English agriculture and now that the prices of 

 agricultural products were depressed the farmers 

 did not find it profitable to farm their lands so 

 intensively as formerly even if they had long term 

 leases. Thus, the tenant problem was of less 

 importance in the minds of the farmers for a 

 series of years, until the return of prosperity again 

 raised the question of investments in improve- 

 ments and the means of securing just returns 

 upon such investments. 



The period from 1836 to 1875 was one of gen- 

 eral prosperity for English farmers, and by 1850 

 the tenant problem was receiving the attention of 

 Parliament. The use of long leases had gradu- 

 ally declined during the first half of the Nine- 

 teenth Century, and while there were agricultural 

 economists who still advocated this means of se- 

 curing to the farmers legitimate returns upon 

 their investments, there was a very prevalent dis- 

 like to long leases on the part of both parties con- 

 308 



