164 LAW REaAEDING LEASES. 



physical at least as much as in a moral sense, is the cha- 

 racteristic of our respected Yankee cousins. 



I am reminded, by my allusion to the leasehold tenure, 

 of a singular provision in the New York State Constitu- 

 tion in reference to leases. The 14th section of the 1st 

 article says : — " No lease or grant of agricultural land, 

 for a longer period than twelve years, hereafter made, 

 in which shall be reserved any rent or service of any 

 kind, shall be valid." This section owes its origin to 

 the existence in this State of certain old leases, by which 

 a small quit-rent was reserved, and which leases the pre- 

 sent leaseholders have been anxious to convert into free- 

 holds, not by buying out the manorial rights, but by 

 refusing any longer to pay the quit-rent — as if it were 

 really a hardship to fulfil honestly the terms on which 

 their lands are held. The clamour and excitement to 

 which this struggle gave rise was, no doubt, the main 

 cause of the insertion of this restriction into the Consti- 

 tution as to the length of future leases. The time may 

 come when, if not altered, this law will operate as a bar 

 to agricultural improvement. In Scotland, a shorter 

 lease than nineteen years is not considered to give suffi- 

 cient security or inducement to the tenant to make those 

 expensive improvements which his landlord does not find 

 it expedient to make with his own capital. The time is 

 no doubt approaching, in this commercial State, when 

 the letting of farms, on money or grain rents, will be 

 both more general and more popular than it is at present ; 

 and then, to secure good farmers, capable of expending 

 the necessary capital, a change in this article of the- 

 Constitution may facilitate that advancement in agri- 

 culture which, as far as circumstances admit, so many 

 parties are already eagerly striving to make. 



In the New England States and in New York the 

 Devon blood prevails. Most of the stock are grades^ as 

 they are called, or crosses of the pure Devon bull with 



