SCIENCE WITH PRACTICE, 1845 TO 1873 113 



heard, not because greater confidence existed between 

 landlord and tenant, but because the protection of the 

 right was not required. Three-quarters of a centuiy ao-o 

 tenants were not compensated for their outlay because 

 outlay was never made, or because profits covered the risk. 

 From 1800 to 1820 land was clayed, chalked, or manured 

 without any security for the tenant's outlay. The ' custom 

 of the country ' intervened on his behalf, but partially and 

 ineffectually. It was proved before the Parliamentary 

 Committee of 1848 that in three counties only, Lincoln, 

 Leicester, and Glamorgan, did the custom of the country 

 afford the tenant any redress, if he received a notice to 

 quit before he had repaid himself for his outlay, or found 

 his rent raised upon improvements which he had himself 

 effected. Even then it was doubtful whether the jarevaleot 

 usage of the district could have been successfully pleaded 

 in a law-court, though it was often accepted in arbitrations. 

 The demand for tenant-right, which has resulted in the 

 Agricultural Holdings Acts of 1875 and 1883, is rather a 

 significant proof of improved farming than of distrust 

 between landlords and tenants. 



To this same period appropriately belong the first 

 records of practical and experimental agriculture. In 

 1864, upon the motion of Sir James (then Mr.) Caird, it 

 was determined to procure statistical information respecting 

 agriculture, the acreage under cultivation, and its food 

 supplies, whether bread or meat. At first considerable 

 difficulty was experienced, especially in the Midland and 

 Southern counties, in procuring complete returns, which 

 were regarded as portents of increased taxation. But the 

 returns are now approximately correct, and have repeatedly 

 proved their value. We are no longer at the mercy of 

 guesswork, which often travels wide of the mark. Arthur 



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