6d2 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



may be said to have cultivated the whole of bis agricultural territory, it constituted hi s 

 whole occupation, when not engaged in war; or required a host of managers if he was 

 a man of the first rank. On the continent, and especially in Russia and Hungary , 

 where estates are of enormous extent, and wholly farmed by the proprietor, the largest 

 estates, as we have seen (609.), are managed by a court of directors, and an executive 

 department, with a numerous body of superintendant officers, artists, and artisans. A 

 better system is now adopted in this country, in consequence of the creation of profes- 

 sional farmers, who, taking large portions of territory from the owner for a certain num- 

 ber of years at a fixed rent, and on certain stipulations, for mutual security, occasion 

 little more trouble to the proprietor, during that period, than receiving payments. 

 Hence it is, that the management of estates in Britain, though important, is a more 

 simple business than in any other country. 



4263, Where there are onli/ tenanted holdings, the business of management is very 

 simple ; where there are woodlands, it requires a person to look after that department ; 

 and where there are waters, quarries, and mines, a greater number of subordinate 

 officers are requisite. But what often occasions most expense, and at the same time is 

 attended with the least profit, is the management of the abstract rights belonging to an 

 estate; such as tithes, manorial rights, quit-rents, and other antiquated trifles, which 

 require courts to be holden, and lawyers and other officers to be called in to assist. The 

 only British author who has digested the business of managing estates into a regular 

 system, is Marshal, and we shall follow him in considering this subject : 1st, As to 

 the superintendants on , the executive establishment of an estate ; and 2d, As to the 

 general business, of management. 



Chap. I. 

 Of the Superintendants, or Executive Establishment of an Estate. 



4264. Though everj/ man who cannot manage his orvn estate iti all important matterSy 

 deserves to lose it ; yet as extensive proprietors generally have their properties situated in 

 different parts of the country, and have besides public duties to attend to, certain subor- 

 dinate managers become necessary. In The Code of Agriculture, it is stated, that no 

 individual having a large estate is equal to the task of managing it, unless he is in the 

 prime of life, dedicates his whole time to the business, and gives up every other occu- 

 pation. It is there stated to have been found expedient by the proprietor of an 

 estate of great extent, to nominate two or three commissioners to assist him in its ma- 

 nagement. Under the superintendance of such commissioners, it is said, the affairs of 

 a great property would be as well conducted, as on the best managed small or moderate 

 sized estates; while the duties of the proprietor would principally be to carry these ex- 

 ercises of true benevolence into effect, which would consist in softening severe decisions j 

 or in granting those marks of approbation and reward which, when bestowed by the 

 proprietor himself, are the most likely to produce beneficial consequences. {Code, c|-c. 

 App. 58.) Such may be the case on a few estates in the British isles not yet brought 

 into a regular system of improvement, and about to be remodelled, of which a grand 

 example occurs in the immense property of the Marquess of Stafford ; but in the great 

 majority of cases, a manager to each separate estate, of qualifications suited to its extent 

 and duties, and a general receiver and controller in the capital or metropohs, (if the 

 proprietor and his banker cannot effect these duties between them,) are all that is requisite. 

 We shall first offer a few remarks on the qualifications and duties of managers, and 

 next on the place of business and its requisites. 



Sect. I. Of the Steward or Manager of an Estate, and his Assistants. 



4265. The head manager of an estate ought unquestionably to be the proprietor him- 

 self, or his representative, if a minor or otherwise incompetent. Next to the proprietor 

 is his acting man of business, with proper assistants ; together with such professional 

 men as the circumstances of business may render necessary as advisers. A tenanted 

 estate differs widely from other species of property ; as giving power and authority over 

 persons as well as things. It has, therefore, a dignity, and a set of duties, attached to it, 

 which are peculiar to itself. A man who receives ten thousand pounds a year from the 

 public funds, for instance, is an insulated being, compared with him who receives the 

 same income from landed property ; who is one of society's best members : provided his 

 affairs are judiciously conducted. On the contrary, if, regardless of the dignity and the 

 duties of his station, he lives but to dissipate his income, leaving the government of his 

 estates and their inhabitants, to those whose interest and honor are unconcerned in their 

 welfare, or to those whose best interests lie in their derangement, he becomes at once 



