Book V. RENT OF FARMING LANDS. 715 



Thus, if a farmer can lay out only 41. of capital per acre, he may not be able to afford 

 for it a higher i-ent than 1 Os. per acre ; if he lays out 71. he may pay 1 4s. ; and with a 

 capital of 10/. per acre, he may be enabled to pay 18s. or 20s. of rent. 



4429. The proportion of produce which should be paid as rent, is a question that has 

 long been considered as abstruse, mysterious, and very difficult to resolve. Some have 

 supposed, that one-fifth was a reasonable proportion, while others contend for a fourth, or 

 even a third part of the produce of arable land. But all former calculations on this 

 subject are rendered fallacious by the effects of modern improvements. The rent ought 

 certainly to depend upon the amount of the disposable produce ; and that produce ia 

 grain is greatly augmented, both by a diminution of the consumption on the farm, 

 effected by improved implements, and a more correct arrangement of labor, and like- 

 wise a better cultivation of the land in tillage. Hence, while the price of wlieat has 

 greatly advanced during the last twenty years, above the average price of the preceding 

 twenty, the rent of land has not only risen, but in a higher proportion. More grain,, 

 and that of a better quality, has been produced on the same extent of land, and a greater 

 amount of disposable surplus has gone to market. Out of this surplus disposable pro- 

 duce, it is evident, that the rent must be paid.. But it is difficult to divide its amount 

 between the landlord and tenant, as so much depends upon the seasons^ and on the 

 prices of the different articles which the farm produces. In bad seasons also, every 

 deficiency of produce, in the acres set apart for supporting home population, must be 

 made up from the disposable surplus ; nor is it possible to apply the same rules to all 

 situations, soils, and climates, in all the various districts of an extensive country. It 

 may be proper, however, to give some general idea of the proportion of produce paid 

 as rent, in Scotland, and in England. 



44S0. In Scotland, the following table states what is considered to be a fair proportion., 

 where the land is cultivated : 



Per ttcre. 

 Where land produces 10^. 105. per acre per annum, one-third, or - - - *^3I10 



Where laud produces 6/. 12s. per annum, one fourth, or----- -1130 



Where land produces only 4^. 5s. per acre, one-fifth, or - - - - - -0 17 



4431. In regard to grazing farms, they are let on principles totally different from the 

 arable ; namely, according to the quantity of stock they can maintain ; and as they are 

 not liable to the same expense of management, both the landlord and the tenant receive 

 larger shares of the produce than in the case of arable farms. 



4432. In England, the tenant is allowed, on arable land, what is considered to be 

 one moiety of the surplus, after defraying the expenses of cultivation, the taxes to which 

 he is liable, and every other outgoing. Hay land requires much less of his attention,. 

 and for this he only obtains one-third of the surplus. But the profits of grazing, 

 depending much on superior judgment in buying and selling stock, as well as skill in 

 preventing, or curing their diseases, the grazier is entitled to a share of the surplus, fully 

 equal to that of his landlord. It has been contended, as a general principle, that as 

 both the expense of cultivating land, and the value of its produce, are infinitely various, 

 a farmer ought to calculate what profit he can make on his whole farm, without enter- 

 ing into details ; it being of little consequence to him, wliether he pays at the rate of 

 10/. or 10s. per acre, provided he makes an adequate interest on the capital invested. 

 That is certainly a fair criterion on which a tenant may calculate what he ought to oHer ; 

 but a landlord, in estimating the rent he ought to insist on, will necessarily take into 

 his consideration, the produce that his land is capable of yielding, and what proportion 

 of it, or of its value, at a fair average, he has reason to expect, under all the circum- 

 stances of the case. 



44S3. What the profits are to ivhich a farmer is entitled, is a subject of much dispute. 

 On the one hand it is contended, that the produce of land is of such universal and 

 absolute necessity to the existence of mankind, that it is not reasonable it should yield 

 to him who raises it, more that a fair profit. On the other hand it is urged, that a 

 farmer is entitled to be fully recompensed for the application of a considerable capital, 

 exposed to the uncertainty of the seasons, when it is managed with economy, and con- 

 ducted with industry and skill ; and it has also been observed, that it is seldom more 

 money is got by farming, than an adequate interest for the capital invested. This is 

 owing to competition, the articles produced being in numberless hands, who must bring 

 them to market ; and necessity, the goods of the farmer being in general of a perish- 

 able nature, on the sale of which he depends, for the payments he has to make, and the 

 subsistence of his family. To prove how moderate the profits of farming in general 

 are, it appears from the most careful inquiries, that on arable farms they rarely exceed 

 from ten to fifteen per cent, on the capital invested, which is little enough, considering 

 that few employments are more subject to casualties than farming, or require mora 

 imiform attention. Some arable farmers, possessed of superior skill and energy, and 

 Hho have got leases on reasonable terms, may clear from fifteen to twenty per cent.. 



