Of Leases. 21 



Yet as no lime, or other permanent manure, will be purchased, nor 

 any expense laid out, during the last three years, those short leases 

 are very exceptionable ; for it is clear that such a farm, by shifting 

 its tenant every ten or twelve years, in place of advancing in fertility, 

 will be essentially injured. A short lease therefore, must be an ob- 

 stacle to the progressive improvement of even such a farm : and it will 

 never yield an adequate rent, nor reach the highest state of produc- 

 tiveness of which it is susceptible, while it continues to be held by 

 such a precarious tenure *. 



On the whole, experience has fully demonstrated, that short leases, 

 and those whose duration is uncertain, are injurious to improvement ; 

 and that a period of 19 or 21 years, is a fair term, in an improving 

 country, for all parties, as it secures to the proprietor the progressive 

 improvement of his land, and a periodical addition to his income, while 

 it rouses the energy of the industrious farmer, from the certainty of 

 his reaping the profit of his labour, skill, and capital, in consequence 

 of his having a certain interest in the soil he cultivates f . The suc- 

 cessful practice and experience of Mr Coke of Norfolk, whose rent- 

 roll, chiefly by the system of granting judicious leases, has been so much 

 increased within the memory of man, has put this 'question beyond all 

 doubt. A prejudice against the granting of leases, therefore, if not re- 

 moved by the good sense of the landlords, will injure, beyond all cal- 

 culation, not only the interests of the proprietors, but the agriculture 

 of the kingdom J. The difference between a lease and no lease, and 

 between a long and a short lease, affects almost every operation that 

 takes place on a farm. Where a regular system of leasing does not 

 exist, not only all improvements are neglected, but often a gradual de- 

 terioration of the land is the consequence . 



It must not be imagined, however, that leases ought to be indiscri- 

 minately given. They certainly ought not to be granted, but where 

 a farm is of a proper size ; is put into a shape fit for profitable culti- 

 vation ; and where tenants can be found, possessed of skill, spirit, and 

 capital, to carry on its cultivation. The improvement of an estate may 

 be retarded, instead of being promoted, if leases are given of ill-ar- 

 ranged occupations, and to ignorant, slothful and needy farmers, not en- 

 titled to the confidence of their landlord. Nor ought they to be grant- 

 ed without proper covenants to protect that property from waste || . 



4. Covenants. When a lease is granted, it is essentially necessary 

 for the interest of the landlord, who is properly a trustee for his fa- 

 mily and the public, that it should be under such covenants as may 



* General Report of Scotland, vol. iii. p. 379. 



f Middlesex Report, p. 79. It has been well remarked, that if a lease is 

 granted for a long terra of years, the farmer is apt to procrastinate commencing 

 Ids improvements, having, he thinks, abundant time before him ; whereas, with 

 a lease of a medium duration, if the land is of a good description, he endea- 

 vours to get his farm into perfect order, as fast as possible, that he may be able 

 to get an adequate return for the money he lays out, before his lease terminates. 



\ Hertfordshire Report, p. 34. 



Young's Essex Report, vol. i. p. 28. 



|| Husbandry of Scotland, vol. i. p. 215. 



