714 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



daily markets, or a manufacturer of produce on a large and ample scale ; for the spirit, 

 attention, and style of living of the one differs materially from that of the other. 



Sect. IX. Of the Tenure on which Lands are held for Farming. 



4421 . Perpetual tenures, or absolute property in land, can never come into consideration 

 with a farmer looking out for a farm. A proprietor cultivating his own property cannot, 

 in correct language, be said to be a farmer, for to constitute the latter an essential 

 requisite is the payment of rent. 



4422. The leases on which lands are let for farming, are for various terms and with 

 very different covenants. The shortest lease is from year to year, which unless in the 

 case of grass lands in the highest order, and of the richest quality, or in some other very 

 peculiar circumstances, no prudent man, whose object was to make the most of his skill 

 and capital, would accept of. Even leases for seven or ten years are too short for 

 general purposes ; fourteen or fifteen years seems to be the shortest period for arable lands 

 so as to admit of the tenant paying a full rent ; but fourteen years, when the lands to be 

 entered on are in bad condition, is too short a period, and twenty-one years much better 

 for the true interest of both parties. In farming, however, as in every other occupation 

 where there is more skill and capital in want of employment than can find subjects to 

 work on, farms will be taken under circumstances, both in regard to leases and rent, that 

 are highly unfavorable to the farmer ; and if they do not end in his ruin will keep him 

 always poor, and probably not only pay less interest for his capital than any other way in 

 which he could have employed it, but also infringe on its amount. The rapid depreciation 

 of currency which took place in Britain during the wars against the French deceived many 

 farmers, and flattered them for a time with the gradual rise of markets year after year. 

 However high land might be taken at the commencement of a lease, it was always 

 considered a consolation that it would be a bargain by the time it was half done ; and that 

 the farmer's fortune would be made during the last few years of its endurance. When 

 the currency of Britain was permitted to find its level with that of other countries, the 

 delusion ceased, and the majority of farmers partially or wholly ruined. 



4423. In regard to the covenants of a lease, it is necessary that there should be such in 

 every one as shall protect both landlord and tenant. Certain general covenants in regard 

 to repairs, renewals if necessary, timber, minerals, entry and exit crops, are common 

 to all leases. Regulations as to manure are required where hay and straw, and other 

 crops, are sold not to be consumed on the farm. Water meadows, rich old grass 

 lands, copse woods, hop grounds, orchards &c., require special covenants. Fewest 

 covenants are required for a mountain breeding farm ; and in all cases there should be 

 a clause entitling the tenant to an appeal, &c. and a hearing from the landlord, and 

 perhaps a jury of landlords or agents and farmers, against covenants as to cropping, 

 repair, or renewals, which may, from extraordinary circumstances, press particularly 

 heavy on the tenant. 



4424. The power of the landlord to grant a lease, with liberal conditions, may in some 

 cases be required to be ascertained by the tenant ; and in Scotland, where it is illegal 

 to sublet a farm unless a clause to that effect has been asserted in the original lease, 

 a farmer may cease to be the master of his own property, unless he has taken care to see 

 that clause inserted. In England, as in every country where the laws are founded in 

 equity, subletting a farm is no more prohibited than subletting a dwelling-house or a 

 shop. 



Sect. X. Of Rent. 



4425. The rent of land, in a general point of view, must always depend on a variety 

 of circumstances ; as the wealth of the country ; its population ; the price of produce ; 

 the amount of public and other burdens ; the distance from markets ; the means of 

 conveyance ; the competition among farmers ; and other less important considerations ; 

 but the rent of any particular farm must be regulated by the nature of the soil ; the 

 duration of the tenure, and the covenants contained in the lease ; the capital to be 

 invested by the farmer in its culture ; and the expenses to which he is liable. 



4426. The rent of poor land cannot possibly be the same as in the case of fertile lands. 

 The labor of ploughing, harrowing, sowing, &c. when the land is in cultivation, is nearly 

 the same, and yet the produce is greatly inferior, not only in quantity, but in quality. 

 Indeed, where the produce is inconsiderable, or the quality much inferior, the whole, or 

 nearly the whole, may be swallowed up by the expense of labor, and no rent whatever 

 can be afforded, more especially in adverse seasons. 



4427. The duration of the tenure must have a considerable effect in fixing the rent. 

 No farmer can afford to pay the same sum for land on a short, as if he held it on a long 

 lease. The covenants, also, which are in fact a species of rent, must influence the 

 money payments. 



4428. Rent must also dep.md oA the capital invested in the cultivation of the farm. 



