( 51 ) 



one-year-old beast, los. For these same classes of 

 cattle, the prices realised b}^ the tenants last year 

 have varied from ^lo to ^14 for the higher class, 

 from /^8 to ;^I3 for the second, and from ^3, los. 

 to ^7, I OS. for the third. 



It is not very easy to compare with perfect fairness 

 the rise of rent upon crofts and the rise of rent upon 

 farms. If a farm held thirty-five years ago by one 

 tenant, and now also held by one tenant, has realised 

 a large increase of rent, we know that this increase is 

 due wholly to better management. But in the case 

 of a farm divided into crofts, a similar rise in rent 

 would not necessarily mean the same thing. If it 

 were coincident with a large reduction in the number 

 of families living on the land, and a consequent con- 

 solidation of the holdings, the rise in rent may be 

 largely due to this circumstance alone. The same 

 amount of produce, or a comparatively small increase 

 of it, will afford a larger surplus over the labour spent 

 upon it, and over the subsistence of the cultivators. 

 A rent which would be excessive on a farm with a 

 dozen families living upon it may be far below the 

 value when these families have been reduced to three 

 or four — even if there were little or no improvement 

 in the management. But the consolidation of miser- 

 able holdings always does coincide with some degree 

 of better management, and with some increased pro- 

 duction . By itself, therefore, the consolidation of such 

 crofts is an element in value which is not represented 

 at all in the case of farms which have always been 

 held by single tenants. Consequently, when we com- 

 pare the rise of rent during any given period upon the 

 two classes of farms, we should allow for this differ- 



