A FULL REWARD FOR THE TILLER. 369 



under ours — under which it has actually fallen, as Mr. 

 Prothero has shown, by £22 an acre — indicates that fixed 

 capital fares better under such arrangement. 



It may at once be admitted, per contra, that in Germany — 

 and in the matter of that also in France and in the Low 

 Countries and in Austria — just as among ourselves — more 

 money is, generally speaking, earned by actual farming — 

 farming proper — under the tenancy system — wherever 

 what may be termed ideal conditions prevail, that is, 

 where the land is good, the tenant capable, the tenure secure, 

 and the landlord not only so well endowed with worldly 

 goods as to be able to execute all improvements commending 

 themselves, but also so much at one with his tenant as to 

 make negotiation respecting such improvements easy. 

 Such is the case in Germany in respect of tenants of large 

 Crown lands or municipal demesnes. But even so it does 

 not follow that under such system the Nation is hkewise 

 best served. The tenant may receive a good return for 

 his outlay. The landlord is likely to receive what is fair. 

 In any case the fixing of the interest which he draws is 

 his own business. However, the Nation not only wants 

 to reap from the land all that the land can be made to 

 yield, but also wants to see the land maintained in its actual 

 condition of productiveness and, if possible, raised to a higher 

 level. That point is potentially — barring insufficiency of 

 means or of intellect — secured under occupjdng ownership, 

 but not, otherwise than exceptionally, under tenancy. For 

 the tenant quite natural^ thinks not of the land but of 

 his own pocket. When he gives up he wants to take with 

 him quite all that he has put in. Where conditions such 

 as were known to our grandfathers survive, and such as 

 still are common on favoured estates — for instance in the 

 long-famed Lothians — of a hearty understanding and com- 

 plete mutual good feehng between landlord and tenant, 

 so that written leases or agreements become in fact super- 

 fluous — a man's word being still as good as his bond — the 

 Nation's interest in this respect is hkely to be practically 

 safeguarded. The tenant, knowing that he may rely 

 upon the landlord's good faith and good will, and that no 



