716 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



-while others, who are deficient in these qualities, or pay too high rents, frequently 

 become insolvent. Certain it is, that the great majority of farmers merely contrive to 

 live and bring up their families ; adding little or nothing to their capital, but that 

 nominal addition which takes place in consequence of the depreciation of the currency. 



4434. In grazing farms the case is different, as they are attended with less expense of 

 labor, and produce articles of a more luxurious description, for which a higher price will 

 be given. Hence, in such farms, fifteen per cent, and upwards, is not unusual. Be- 

 sides, the grazier is more of a trader than the mere arable farmer; is frequently 

 buying as well as selling stock, and sometimes makes money by judicious speculations, 

 though occasionally, from a sudden fall of stock, his losses are considerable. The gra- 

 zier who breeds superior stock, and thence incurs great expense, is certainly well en- 

 titled to more than common profit for his skill and attention. 



4435. In regard to the mode in which rent should be paid, it is proper to consider, 

 whether the whole, or at least part of the rent, ought not to depend upon the price of grain, 

 not for the season, but on an average of a certain number of years preceding that for 

 which the rent is due. By this plan, neither the landlord nor the tenant can suffer from 

 the fluctuating price of grain, whereas, without some such arrangement, the tenant, on the 

 one hand, cannot make a fair offer of rent, lest the price of grain should fall too low ; 

 nor on the other hand, can the landlord grant a lease of considerable duration, lest the 

 price of grain should, in the progress of time, rise much higher. It seems therefore to 

 be for the interest of both parties, that on arable farms a part of the rent should be pay- 

 able in money and part in corn, and not in kind, but in money, according to the average 

 value of a number of years. This plan is enforced by law to the extent of one-third in 

 college leases, and thus an income is secured in some degree proportioned to the value 

 of money. It is not, however, without its difficulties. The amount of rent for improv- 

 able and well cultivated farms, does not depend so much on the price of grain as is 

 commonly imagined. A large proportion of such farms usually produce green crops, 

 the value of which depends upon the prices of beef, mutton, and wool, and not on that of 

 grain. Various circumstances also may arise, which may reduce the price of particular 

 sorts of grain below its usual level, (for example, barley, when the distilleries are 

 stopped; ; or may raise it disproportionably much higher, in case a large proportion of 

 the wheat crop should be destroyed by rust or mildew. But if the proposed payment, 

 by the conversion of corn into money, be extended to the various sorts of grain usually 

 cultivated in the district, and be restricted to one-half of the rent, it does not seem liable 

 to any material difficulty. If the payment also depends on the average of seven or more 

 years, the main objection to a corn rent, that the farmer is often liable to pay the most 

 when he is the least able to do it, is removed. (See 4327.) 



4436. The periods of iiayment ought to be made so convenient to the tenant, that 

 he may not be under the necessity of selling the produce of his farm to disadvantage, 

 for the sake of ready money (4340.), nor should he be compelled to pay his rent out of 

 his capital, for that would cripple all his future exertions. The periods should vary 

 according to the nature of the occupation, and the time when the tenancy commenced. 

 On the whole, the most successful farmers are those, who embark a capital sufficiently 

 large in their undertaking ; who feel it their duty to watch over that capital with unceas- 

 ing care, and to add to it whenever it is practicable ; and who have agreed to pay a fair, 

 but not a speculative rent, for the lands they cultivate. 



Sect. XI. Of Taxes and other Burdens which affect the Farmer. 



4437. Farmers are subjected to the payment of various taxes besides the rent paid to the 

 landlord; some of them imposed for local purposes, and others for the general expenses 

 of the state. The real amount of such burdens, every careful tenant ought accurately 

 to know, before he bargains for his lease. They may be classed under the following 

 heads : parochial, national, and miscellaneous. 



4438. Parochial taxes are for the support of the clergyman, for the maintenance of 

 the p<ior, and in Scotland, for providing a parochial schoolmaster. The mode of sup- 

 porting the clergy in England, by paying them a tenth part of the produce of tlie land 

 in kind, is highly injurious to agriculture, and a bar to improvement. It is a great 

 bar to improvement^ because an improving farmer, one more enlightened or more spi- 

 rited than his neighbors, would pay more tithe by means of his outlay and exertions, 

 but it is not certain that he would likewise receive more profit. The produce would be 

 more, but the expense Would be greater. Nothing can be more obnoxious than a law, 

 by which, when a person expends a large sum, either in reclaiming wastes, or augment- 

 ing the fertility of land already cultivated, he should be under the necessity of yielding 

 up one-tenth of its produce to a person who has been liable to no share of the expense, 

 who has run none of the risk, and who has sustained none of the labor attending the 

 improvement. A commutation of tithe, therefore, instead of its being exacted in kindj 

 would be one of the greatest benefits that could be conferred on agriculture j and there 



