276 AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



the feed lots, the fence rows, and every other part of the farm. 

 There is a considerable advertising value in good appearances 

 which should not be disregarded. Where it is not profitable in 

 dollars and cents it pays abundantly in the satisfaction that 

 comes from the greater degree of contentment and self-respect 

 enjoyed by the farmer and his family. 



New buildings and fences. In the construction of new 

 fences and buildings there seems to be no settled practice. In 

 some cases the landlord provides the material, performs all of 

 the work, and pays for the board of the workmen, the tenant 

 hauling the material from the nearest station and boarding the 

 workmen at a fixed rate. In other cases the tenant performs all 

 of the unskilled labor and boards the skilled laborers without 

 charge while making the improvement. 



Repairs on fences and buildings. The common practice in 

 all forms of leases in the Northern States is for the landlord to 

 furnish the material and the tenant to do all the work required 

 in making ordinary repairs on fences and buildings. In some 

 cases a distinction is made between the " inside " fences and 

 the outside or " line fences," the landlord making the repairs 

 on the latter and the tenant doing the work required in making 

 repairs on the former. 



Another plan which has been found more satisfactory in some 

 instances is for the owner of the land to pay the tenant a fixed 

 sum per day for time expended under the owner's supervision 

 in the construction and repair of fences and buildings and ad- 

 justing the rent accordingly. This may result in a more cheerful 

 service of the tenant in working on fences and buildings. 



Some experienced landlords require the tenants to make good 

 at their own expense damages done to gates, barn doors, pumps, 

 etc., where the wear and tear is likely to be very great with a 

 careless tenant and very little with a careful one. The practice 

 on some estates is for the landlord to furnish the parts of the 

 pump and the windmill which are subject to little wear, and to 

 require the tenant to furnish the wearing parts. This was sug- 

 gested by the difficulty met with in getting tenants to oil the 

 windmill. If the tenant owns the gearing and wheel of the 



