THE LAND QUESTION. 59 



stated. Then as to the rent due. Whether holding 

 by lease or by the year, a year's rent must have been 

 due before an ejectment for non-payment of rent could 

 be begun, and it is very unlikely a decree could be 

 got till a large part of another half-year had passed. 

 Then if the year fell due at Michaelmas, it is certain 

 the tenant got his crops. They would be threshed 

 and gone long before a decree was executed, and be- 

 sides it is almost the universal custom to give a leav- 

 ing tenant his crops and stock, besides forgiving him 

 the arrears and any law costs. If the year's rent fell 

 due at Lady Day, by the time a decree was executed 

 it would be too late in the spring for the landlord to 

 sow any crops in the land that year. It is clear, 

 therefore, that more than a year's rent was owing, or 

 spoilt as they say here, and the story is not all told 

 at that end either. 



