CHAPTER V. 



THE LAW IN RELATION TO FRUIT TARMS AND MARKET GARDENS. 



By Aubrey J. Spenceb, Barrister-at-Law. 

 Author of " Dixon's Law of the Fann." 



I._Fruit Trees and Fruit Bushes. 

 The relations of landlord and tenant in 

 respect of rights of cultivation and compen- 

 sation for improvements are now governed 

 by certain Acts of Parliament passed in 1908, 

 1913 and 1914, known as the Agricultural 

 Holdings Acts, 1908 to 1914. Under the Act 

 of 1908, Section 26, a tenant is at liberty to 

 crop the arable land on his holding as he 

 thinks fit and to dispose of the produce 

 without incurring any penalty, forfeiture or 

 liability, notwithstanding any custom of the 

 country or any provisions of any contract of 

 tenancy or agreement to the contrary. But it 

 is provided that he must not exercise his rights 

 under this section so as to injure or deteriorate 

 the holding. If be does .«o he will be liable for 

 damages in respect of .'■ucli injury or deterio- 

 ration. This provision extends to the arable 

 land of the holding on]j% but in a case of 

 Mmx V. Cobley (61 L. S Ch. 449 ; [1892] 2 Cb. 

 253) it was held that the conversion of 

 arable or pasture land into a market garden 

 and the erection of glass-houses thereon did 

 not constitute a breach of a covenant to 

 cultivate the farm "in a good and husbandlike 

 manner according to the best rules of hus- 

 bandry practised in the neighbourhood." It 

 is clear therefore that the law does not 

 prevent a tenant from planting fruit trees or 

 bushes on his holding and convertiog it, as to 

 the arable land, in whole or in part into a 

 market garden, even though he may have 

 taken it as ordinary agricultural land, and he 

 need not obtain his landlord's consent to 

 do so. 



The question, however, which will seem most 

 important to a tenant proposing to take up 

 fruit growing or market gardening is how 

 far he will be able on the termination of his 

 tenancy to obtain compensation for the im- 

 provements he may have made by planting 

 fruit trees and fruit bushes. 



The making of gardens and planting of 



orchards and fruit bushes are improvements 

 mentioned in Part I of the First Schedule to 

 the Act of 1908, and if before making such 

 improvements the tenant is able to obtain the 

 written consent of the landlord thereto he 

 will be entitled at the determination of his 

 tenancy on quitting his holding to obtain as 

 compensation from the landlord such sum as 

 fairly represents the value of the improve 

 ment to an incoming tenant, such value in 

 case of dispute being ascertained by arbitra- 

 tion. The consent may be general and given 

 by the terms of the lease under which the 

 tenant holds. In Mears v. Callender (70 L. J. 

 Ch. 621 ; [1901] 2 Ch. 388) the lease per- 

 mitted a tenant "at his own cost to convert 

 into an orchard meadow land surrounding the 

 house as he might think proper" aad it was 

 held that this amounted to a consent in writing 

 by the landlord to the planting of fruit trees 

 which gave the tenant the right ti compensa- 

 tion at the end of his tenancy for trees so 

 planted. 



In other cases where no specific consent in 

 writing has been obtained to the planting of 

 fruit trees or fruit bushes, a tenant whose 

 tenancy has commenced since the 1st January, 

 1896, is by no means in as favourable a 

 position as one who still holds under a 

 tenancy current at that date. The Act of 

 1908 by Section 42 provides that in the case 

 of a tenancy commencing after that date the 

 tenant will only be entitled at the end of his 

 tenancy to compensation for the improve- 

 ments mentioned in the Third Schedule to 

 the Act which includes : — 



(1) Planting of standard or other fruit trees 

 permanently set out ; 



(2) Planting of fruit bushes permanently 

 set out ; 



(3) Planting of strawberry plants ; 



(4) Planting of asparagus, rhubarb and other 

 vegetable crops which continue productive 

 for two or more years ; 



