Of Leases. 23 



pay ; while the tenant is furnished with sufficient inducement to 

 increase the value of the farm he occupies, and will thus be en- 

 abled to afford even a higher rent when the lease terminates. Instead 

 of a mercenary contract, therefore, a connexion, for the mutual advan- 

 tage of both parties, may thus be formed ; which, if the tenant ful- 

 fils the expectations that are entertained of his exertions, is likely to 

 be continued. In short, that great object, both for the public, and for 

 the proprietor and his family, " the progressive improvement of an es- 

 " tate" ought not to be sacrificed, for the hazardous experiment of 

 obtaining a temporary advantage, at the risk of future injury. 



5. Form of a lease. Leases are too often drawn up by men igno- 

 rant of agriculture, and hence are made replete with obsolete cove- 

 nants, which shackle the tenant unnecessarily, injure the landlord, and 

 occasion incalculable losses to the community *. 



The covenants in a lease must necessarily vary, according to cir- 

 cumstances. It is desirable, however, to have a form laid down, dis- 

 tinct and simple, instead of being both complicated and confused. For 

 that purpose, after the necessary preamble, stating the parties con- 

 tracting, the situation of the property leased, the extent of the 

 farm, (a plan of which ought to be subscribed by the contracting par- 

 ties), the duration of the lease, and the time of entry ; it is then 

 proper to enumerate, 1. The powers and privileges reserved to the 

 landlord ; 2. The obligations incumbent on the tenant ; and 3. The 

 stipulations obligatory upon both. Leases thus drawn up, would not 

 be liable to much uncertainty or dispute ; and if any should occur, it 

 is expedient, that a mutual obligation for settling the same by arbiters, 

 should be inserted in the lease itself. 



6, General remarks on leases. When a new lease is to be enter- 

 ed into, the farm to which it relates should be inspected by an in- 

 telligent agriculturist, who should point out, what draining, fencing, 

 buildings, roads, &c. are necessary, what part of them ought to be exe- 

 cuted by the proprietor, and what by the tenant. The inspector 

 should, at the same time, fix on a plan of management suited to that 

 particular farm, point out the waste or inferior land to be reclaimed 

 or improved, also how and when such operations are to proceed, and 

 in what condition the lands are to be kept and left. These points be- 

 ing fixed, the terms should be distinctly expressed in the lease or co- 

 venant, so that parties might know the rights they had to claim, and 

 the duties incumbent on them, respecting that individual farm. 



In the management of a large estate, nothing can be more absurd 

 than to frame leases on a uniform plan, to be applied to land of every 

 diversity of soil, altitude, and state of improvement. Yet, on some 

 large estates, the leases are all formed on one model, and in some in- 

 stances they have been printed, ready to be filled up like militia sche- 

 dules, or policies of insurance. Under such arrangements, the leases 

 of store-farms, and grain- farms, those in high cultivation, and such as 



* Middlesex Report, p. 84. In the General Report of Scotland, vol. iv. 

 p. 324, the subject of covenants is more fully discussed. 



