336 AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



During the period of rising prices prior to 1812, the farmers 

 were anxious to rent land on long leases. It is said that at that 

 time, " good tenants always wanted leases," that " they were 

 galloping after one another to take leases at any rent." 1 After 

 the close of the Napoleonic wars, prices fell back almost to their 

 old level. The average price of wheat was just about half as 

 high for the five years from 1821 to 1825, as for the five years 

 from 1809 to 1 8 13. With this fall in prices the farmers became 

 even more averse to the taking of long leases than the landlords 

 had previously been. One after another the witnesses before 

 the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture, in 1833, bore 

 testimony to the fact that the farmers were objecting seriously 

 to taking long leases, because they did not know how soon 

 they might be unable to pay the rent, as their capacity to pay 

 the rent depended upon such uncertain prices. The farmers 

 were in doubt as to how much protection they were to have from 

 the competition of foreign producers. But without regard to 

 this, they knew that the prices of agricultural products had been 

 falling for several years in succession, and they were unable to 

 tell when the limit would be reached. 



With depressed prices the landlords found new reasons for 

 objecting to long leases. This was the time, one might think, 

 for the landlords to regain what they had lost during the period 

 of rising prices, but they found it rarely happened that the 

 tenants were able to stand the losses incurred by falling prices. 

 The farmer could not be forced to live up to his contract, if he 

 was losing money. It was said that leases were binding upon 

 the landlords but not upon the tenants. The fall in prices 

 seemed to demoralize the farmers, so that the landlord was 

 never certain that his tenant would not disregard the contract 

 in case of a fall in prices, whereas the tenant would certainly 

 remain to reap the benefits in case of a rise in prices. 



The remedy which was often prescribed for the evils of 

 fluctuating prices was the introduction of " corn rents." 2 By 

 this it is not meant that the farmer was to give a certain 



1 Parliamentary Papers, 1833, Vol. V, questions 7420 and 8462. 



2 Ibid., 1833, Vol. V, questions 2594-2596; 2601-2609. 



