SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Part II. 



(I. What Ittm ought tOba paid ftu I leaM ^; r.intt-ti on a tingle life aged thirty, US make four per cent, and 



'. tin prim 

 / I mil tor >i .11 - .mil Hirer quarters' purch i»e of the clear annual rent. 



<l What .■■urn ought to be paid for a lease held on two! vi ol twenty and forty years, but determinable 

 . i. the death of either, !■• pa) Ave per cent and get back the principal P 

 A. Ten years 1 pun base. 

 <i What turn ought t" be paid for a lease held like the last on two lives of twenty and forty years, but 



tinue during the existence of either of the lives, to pay five per cent and get back the principal? 

 / Si (teen years' purchase 



Q, Wh.it Mini or 111. i ought a tenant to (jive for the renewal of four years lapsed In his leaseoften years, 

 in order to make seven per eent. interest Of his money and get baek the principal ? 



A. Two yean and a quarters' purchase of the annual value or clear profit which he makes of the 

 holding. 



// A farmer is offered a lease during the lifeof a person aged thirty years, to what term certain is that 

 considered equivalent p 



./. Twenty-one ye its. 



Q. In a lease held originally on three lives, hut of which one is dropped, the ages of the lives in pos- 

 session being fbrtj and ~i\ty ; what sum ought the tenant to pay for passing in a new life, aged fifteen, in 

 order to make live per cent, interest and return the principal? 



./. Three years and i quarter of the clear improved rent or profit which he has in the lease. 



Q \. h is an estate in land and bouses let for I05A per annum. He wishes to sell the reversion of this 

 rent after the death of hit father aged sixty- live years, his wife aged forty-one, and himself aged forty- three; 

 requin that must be paid by the purchaser ? 



A. The father's life is worth ten years; the wife's twenty ; and his own eighteen years; say twenty- 

 ii, ; a- 1 1 1 e probable period at which the property will fall to the purchaser of the reversion. TheD 

 the value to the latter is the present value of an annuity of 1L.V. a year, due twenty-one years hence. This, 

 calculating interest at 5/. per cent., is Vol/. 5s., and at it. per cent. 1155& 



3340. In the valuation of freehold landed jrroperti/, the clear annual value must first 

 be ascertained by a minute examination of every part of the estate, and of every 

 internal and external circumstance affecting it. An estate may be neglected, or un- 



ilerlet on short or long leases, or overlet by means of bonuses, or favourable conditions 

 given to the tenants; or it may be burdened by parochial taxes: these, and a Dumber 

 of other circumstances, require to be taken into consideration in determining its annual 

 value. The annual value is often different from the annual produce ; and therefore, in 

 making a calculation of the sum to be paid for an estate, the difference between them 

 forms an essential part of the data. Thus, an estate of the annual value of 100/. may 

 be let on a lease of which fourteen years and a half were unexpired for 80/., in which 

 case there must be deducted from the price the present value of an annuity of 20/. for 

 fourteen years and a half. Thus, if twenty-five years' purchase or 2500/. was the price 

 agreed on, there must be deducted 200/. 



3341. In determining the sum to be paulfor estates in perpetuity there are no guides of 

 universal application but the state of the market and public opinion. However, a sort 

 of abstract principle has been laid down as applicable to tliis country, which it may be 

 worth while to notice. N. Kent, a land agent of much experience, says {Hints to 

 Gentlemen of Landed Property, Sec, 1793, p. 266.), "the want of a criterion to determine 

 the price of estates creates doubt, and doubt impedes the transfer; any thing, therefore, 

 that can aid the purpose of passing estates from one person to another with the greater 

 facility, may be properly introduced here." Suppose then that the gradual scale, by 

 way of an outline, be taken up thus : — When the funds stand pretty steady at four per 

 cent, the standard of mortgages may be considered at four and a half: the fee simple 

 on the nett return of land ought then to be current at three ; copyholds of inheritance 

 upon a tine certain, at three and a half; copyholds, with a fine at the will of the lord, at 

 four. This general rule is short, and may be registered in the mind of every man of 

 business. At the same time Kent states, that " nineteen times out of twenty, estates 

 are bought and sold upon round numbers." 



3342. In making calculations of the value of estates, the following rules deserve notice : — 

 In order to know the number of years' purchase that ought to be given for an estate in 

 perpetuity, according to the several rates of interest which the purchaser may wish to 

 make of his money, it is only necessary to divide 100 by the rate of interest required, 

 and the quotient will show the number of years' purchase that ought to be given. 



3343. With respect to the value of freehold estates, or the gross sum which ought to be 

 paid for the same, Bailey observes, we may either multiply the number of t/ears purchase, 

 found as above, by the annual rent of the estate, or we may "multiply the annual rent 

 of the estate by 100, and divide the product by the rale of interest which we propose to 

 make of our money ; the quotient will be the sum required." For example, the sum 

 which ought to be paid for a freehold estate of the clear rent of 90/. per annum, so that 

 the purchaser may make 4 per cent, interest of his money, is found either by multiplying 

 25 by 90, which gives 2250/. for the sum required ; or by multiplying 90 by 100, which 

 produces 9000, and then dividing this product by 4, which gives 2250/. as before. The 

 first way is the most expeditious, where the number of years' purchase is an even quan- 

 tity ; but the latter will be found the most ready, where the number of years' purchase is 

 a fractional quantity, or is not precisely known. Thus, the gross sum which ought to be 

 paid for a freehold estate of the clear rent of 150/ per annum, in order that the purchaser 

 in ly make 7 per ceiU. interest of his money, is found by multiplying 150 by 100, which 



