CH. I.] LANDLORDS AND TENANTS. 3? 



nothing of agriculture, and that the buildings are in a most 

 wretched condition. Whatever difference there may be 

 between one farm and another, depends upon the agent or 

 the proprietor, but not upon the length of the lease. 



This state of things is general in Ireland, and all the 

 depositions agree on the fact, that the tenants who are 

 the most uncertain in their farms are those who hold on 

 glebe lands, the usufructuary being unable to grant a 

 longer lease than for his own life. 



The Commissioners made inquiries respecting what is 

 called taking a farm in common, and whether this custom 

 was still in force. 



The reply was as follows : eight or ten persons agree to 

 take a farm of thirty or forty acres together: in each of 

 the fields, the first takes an allotment from one end to 

 the other ; the second takes another next to that, and cul- 

 tivates it as he pleases ; the third does the same ; and all ten 

 are thus employed in cultivating, in sowing and gathering 

 in their crops, side by side, each having his allotment 

 separated from that of his neighbour by a small strip of 

 grass. As the quality of the soil varies however much in 

 the length of each field, in order to equalize the portions, 

 he who in the first instance had the first lot, takes the 

 second the following year, and so on until he cultivates 

 the last. 



This, according to the depositions, is the most ruinous 

 of all the systems of farming ; it only admits of the cul- 

 tivation of oats and potatoes, very rarely of corn, and 

 never of grass nor any kind of pasturage ; it prevents the 

 rearing of cattle, and it leads to all sorts of quarrelling. 

 In general, all who thus take a farm in common are re- 

 sponsible one for another ; but the proprietor who lets or 



