558 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. 



teuances; the characteristic, and the state of management, of eadh farm or tenement, 

 with the eligibility of its occupier, together with the state ol repair of buildings, gates, 



fence--, watercourses, anil roads ; tile amount of the encumbrances and Outgoings J and, 



lastly, the probable value of the improvements of which the estate may appear to be 



capable, whether by ordinary or extraordinary means. 



3 163. The tulyccti of treaty after these particulars of information are procured are few. 

 The two statements having been duly compared, so that DO misunderstanding can take 

 place between the parties, the price, with the times and mode of payment, are the prin- 

 cipal matters of agreement A clear understanding respecting the custody of title deeds, 

 and the expenses of conveyance, require, however, to be enumerated among the preli- 

 minaries of purchase. 



3464. The business of negotiation is best carried on by letters, which become vouchers 

 of facts. Whatever is done by interview requires to be reduced to writing, and to be 

 read by, or to, the parties, before they separate, that no possibility of misconception may 

 arise; and, added to these precautions, it is proper, in large purchases, and when 

 abstracts of intricate title deeds are to be made out and examined, that a legal contract, 

 or memorandum of agreement, should be entered into, for the mutual satisfaction and 

 surety of the parties. 



3465. This contract, and the deed of conwyance (namely, the instrument which is 

 legally to transfer the property from the seller to the purchaser), may be said to conclude 

 and ratify the business of purchase ; and in this part of it legal assistance is essentially 

 necessary, to examine existing deeds, and see that the seller has a legal right and clear 

 title to the land, and a legal power to dispose of it, as well as to draw up or examine 

 the fresh deed of conveyance, and see that it is sufficient to transfer the property, legally 

 and adequately, to the purchaser. 



3466. The preservation of titles may be adverted to before dismissing this subject. in 

 Scotland, deeds of conveyance and other deeds are registered in one magnificent build- 

 ing, whose internal economy is as admirably adapted to its design, as its outward form is 

 beautiful : and, in England, there are two counties (Yorkshire and Middlesex) which 

 are termed register counties ; in which abstracts of deeds are preserved, and so arranged 

 as to be readily referred to. Hence, in cases where the original deeds are destroyed 

 or lost, these registered abstracts are sufficient evidences of their having existed, and 

 capable of securing the titles of estates to their rightful owners ; and are moreover 

 valuable, in preventing fraudulent practices, particularly respecting mortgages. Never- 

 theless, the other counties of England remain, from reign to reign, destitute of these 

 advantages. 



BOOK II. 



OF THE LAYING OUT, OR GENERAL ARRANGEMENT, OF LANDED ESTATES. 



3467. The lai/ing out of an extensive landed estate embraces a variety of subjects, and 

 requires extensive information and enlarged views of political, agricultural, and even of 

 moral improvement. In new countries, such as America, where an estate is laid out 

 from a state of nature, this is more particularly the case ; but the observation will also 

 apply to many parts of the British Isles, where estates, long since appropriated, require 

 re-arrangement and improvement. 



3468. Among the different objects of attention in laying out or re-arranging a landed 

 estate, one of the first is its consolidation, or the rounding off or simplifying the outline 

 so that the whole may be brought into a compact form. This envie de sarrondir seems 

 to have existed, and the proximity and intermixture of property to have been felt as an 

 evil by landed proprietors, in all ages. Ahab desired the field of Naboth, because it 

 was near to his house ; and Marvel, the attorney (Massingers New Way to pay Old 

 Debts, ijc) advised his client to " hedge in the manor of Master Frugal," because 

 says he, " his land, lying in the midst of yours, is a foul blemish." 



3469. In consolidating property in Britain, an equally desirable object is the appro- 

 priation of commonable lands; which, in England, can only be effected under the autho- 

 rity of a special act of the legislature, but is accomplished with less difficulty in Scot- 

 land, and is rarely necessary in Ireland. It is believed, indeed, that there are now no 

 commons in Scotland, unless, perhaps, one or two belonging to the crown or the church, 

 which cannot be divided by the general law, but must be done either by consent of 

 parties or a special act of parliament. (C.) 



3470. The arrangement of the interior of an estate naturally follows the determination 

 of the ring-fence, and the complete possession of all that is within. Here the first tiling 



