LANDLORDS AND TENANTS 



return. It was stated in 1799, that the improve- 

 ments which had taken place in England prior to 

 that time had been almost entirely due to the cus- 

 tom of granting twenty-one year leases, and that 

 where it was uncommon to grant leases for long 

 periods of years, agriculture remained in a back- 

 ward condition. 1 



During the early years of the Nineteenth Cen- 

 tury the English Board of Agriculture published 

 a series of surveys which set forth the conditions 

 of agriculture in every county of the kingdom. 

 This material, supplemented by the other agricul- 

 tural writings of the time, makes it possible to 

 present, in considerable detail, the history of the 

 attempts to solve the tenant problem in England 

 by the introduction of long leases. 



From these surveys it appears that the greater 

 part of the tenant farmers of England one hun- 

 dred years ago held their farms "at will," without 

 written agreements, or "from year to year" under 

 written agreements. In either case they might be 

 thrown out of the possession of their farms on six 

 months' notice, at the pleasure of the landlord. 

 But while this was the dominant form of land 

 tenure throughout the greater part of England, 

 the use of long-term leases had greatly increased 

 during the latter part of the Eighteenth Century, 

 and leases varying in duration from three to 



1 Brown, Agricultural Survey of West Riding of York- 

 shire, p. 30 ; also, Arthur Young, Survey of Norfolk, p. 47. 



19 289 



