LANDLORDS AND TENANTS 



no means in full agreement with Robert Brown in 

 his views on the subject of leases. Leases seem 

 to have been in best repute in the eastern counties, 

 where they were usually for a term of twenty-one 

 years. Mr. Bailey is quoted as saying, in crit- 

 icism of Mr. Brown's position as stated above, 

 that, "if the proprietors of land were sure of al- 

 ways getting tenants that would act properly there 

 would be no need of restricting covenants; but 

 this is not always the case, and there are many 

 instances of estates being much injured by ex- 

 hausting crops where tenants were not properly 

 restricted. That many covenants are useless or 

 hurtful I readily admit; but covenants may be 

 so framed, that a tenant shall have ample liberty 

 to take such crops as he shall think proper, and to 

 propose such modes as shall benefit himself with- 

 out injuring his landlord." 1 



It was quite generally agreed that long leases 

 properly drawn, were extremely desirable from 

 the standpoint of the farmer, wherever improve- 

 ments were to be made. But the landlords were 

 not so generally of the opinion that long term 

 leases were a good thing. Many landlords 

 claimed that it made the tenants too independ- 

 ent. 2 But a more important objection was 

 found in the fact that while a lease of sufficient 



1 Agricultural Survey, W. R. Yorkshire, p. 50. 



2 Staffordshire, Survey, p. 30 ; Leicestershire Survey, ppv ST- 

 52; Northamptonshire Survey, p. 45. 



209 



