RELATIONS BETWEEN LANDLORDS AND TENANTS 337 



share of his crop to the landlord as rent, but that he should pay 

 as rent the value of a certain fixed amount of grain. The rent 

 was figured on the basis of what was called in Scotland the " fiars 

 prices of the county." In Scotland the sheriff of each county was 

 bound to summon a jury once each year to examine on oath 

 a number of witnesses, such as farmers, grain dealers, brewers, 

 etc., and according to the evidence thus obtained, to fix the 

 " fiars prices " of the different grades of grain. This system 

 was quite generally resorted to in Scotland during the period of 

 falling prices. Corn rents were advocated by the English rural 

 economists of the time, and were introduced with success in a 

 few instances in the western counties ; but this system failed to 

 gain general favor among the farmers and landlords of England. 1 



The use of long leases declined rapidly in England during 

 the period following the close of the continental wars. In those 

 counties where they had been most numerous and most bene- 

 ficial, the farmers came to prefer short leases or even tenancy 

 from year to year. The long lease as a means of solving the 

 tenant problem had been " weighed in the balance and found 

 wanting." Yet it must be admitted that long leases had done 

 a great deal of good in promoting improvements in English 

 agriculture and now that the prices of agricultural products 

 were depressed the farmers did not find it profitable to farm their 

 lands so intensively as formerly even if they had long-term 

 leases. Thus, the tenant problem was of less importance in 

 the minds of the farmers for a series of years, until the return 

 of prosperity again raised the question of investments in im- 

 provements and the means of securing just returns upon such 

 investments. 



The period from 1836 to 1875 was one of general prosperity 

 for English farmers, and by 1850 the tenant problem was receiv- 

 ing the attention of Parliament. The use of long leases had 

 gradually declined during the first half of the nineteenth century, 

 and while there were agricultural economists who still advocated 

 this means of securing to the farmers legitimate returns upon 



1 Parliamentary Papers, Vol. V, questions 328 to 331; 347; 10438; 10448; 

 10454; 10591-10595. 

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