28 CONSTRUCTION OF A FAIlM-HOUSE AND OFFICES. 



His stacks are divided into regular rows, and there is a road 

 on each side of every double row, besides a road round the 

 whole yard.* This plan is attended with the following ad- 

 vantages : 1. By these parallel roads, there is a greater de- 

 gree of ventilation ; 2. He can remove any stack he pleases, 

 as necessity or markets may require; 3. In the hurry of 

 harvest, there is no confusion or loss of time, whatever may 

 be the number of men or horses employed ; and, 4. By ha- 

 ving the rows and the stacks regularly numbered, there is 

 no difficulty in ascertaining what each field of the farm pro- 

 duces. That plan was originally suggested by that respect- 

 able agriculturist Mr Erskine of Mar. 



Two points on the subject of farm-houses and offices in 

 general, remain to be discussed : 1. By whom they ought 

 to be erected ; and, 2. By whom they ought to be kept in 

 repair. 



In regard to the first point, it is certainly desirable, as a 

 general principle, that the landlord, who has a permanent 

 interest in the soil, should be at the expence of all substan- 

 tial improvements.! But unfortunately that cannot be the 

 case in regard to entailed estates, where the proprietor has 



* As four rows, if the stacks are pretty large, will in general he suffi- 

 cient, two roads will be enough, one through the middle of the longitu- 

 dinal direction, and one round the whole yard. 



+ Mr Church of Hitchill in Dumfries-shire, observes, that the farm- 

 house and offices ought to be erected free of expence to the tenant. 

 Many an industrious individual has got the character of a bad farmer, by 

 having been unguardedly led to exhaust his capital on buildings, so much 

 so, as to disable him from bestowing a proper proportion of it on the cul- 

 tivation of the soil. Inclosing ought to be done at the expence of the 

 landlord, and the fences reared or maintained at the mutual expence of 

 landlord and tenant. In short, all great permanent improvements on a 

 farm, should be executed by the landland, and in consideration of these, 

 let the tenant pay a higher rent. 



