Book IV. LAND STEWARD'S OFFICE. 761 



make out rentals, &c. and keep the accounts of the estate ; as well as to assist the man- 

 ager in his more active employments ; also to act as his substitute in case of sickness, or 

 absence ; and to become his successor in the event of his death, or other termination of 

 his stewardship. 



4640. A law assistant, solicitor, or attorney, may next be considered as requisite to 

 the good management of a landed estate. For although much is to be done by judicious 

 regulations, and the timely interposition and advice of a resident manager, such are the 

 frailties of human nature, that, in a state of civilised society, and of property, legal 

 assistance will sometimes be necessary. The error of country gentlemen consists, not in 

 employing lawyers, but in committing the management of their landed estates to them. 

 The employment of law agents as land stewards, however, is not without some reason. 

 Farmers are not for the most part sufficiently skilled in accounts for taking the charge of 

 a large estate ; and such of them as are capable, are commonly men of capital, and 

 would not exchange their situation for the less independent one of a land steward. The 

 division of labour, in the case of large estates, is not without its use, and is recognised 

 in practice. A law agent collects the rents and keeps the accounts, often on a very small 

 salary; and in questions of a practical nature, such as the valuation of new leases, the 

 modes of cropping, &c. he advises with a surveyor or land valuer. After all, however, 

 a well chosen land-steward to reside upon the estate, and to consult, when necessary, 

 with a lawyer, must be the best plan, even though his salary be higher than that of the 

 law agent, who commonly acts for several proprietors, does not reside on any of their 

 estates, and very likely, as we think, cannot do them justice. 



4641. In the feudal system, under which every manor court was a court of law, we 

 may perceive the origin of law land-stewards. It is allowed by the best agricultural 

 writers in Europe (Chateauvieux, Thaer, Thouin, Mathieu de Dombasle, Sigismondi, 

 Jovellanos, Young, Marshal, Brown, Coventry, &c.), that these men by their rigid ad- 

 herence to precedent in the clauses of leases, have contributed most materially to retard the 

 progress of agricultural improvement. 



4642. The land-surveyor is another professional man, whom the superintendent of an 

 estate may want to call in occasionally. Not merely to measure and map the whole or 

 parts of the estate, but to assist in matters of arbitration, and the amicable settlement of 

 disputes ; or to act himself, as valuer or referee. 



Sect. II. Land Steward's Place of Business, and what belongs to it. 



4643. A manager's place of business may be considered in regard to its situation, 

 accommodations, and appropriate professional furniture. 



4644., 21ie situation of the place of business should be under the roof of the proprietor's 

 principal residence ; round which, and in its neighbourhood, some considerable parts of 

 his estates may be supposed (as they ever ought) to lie. If a large bulk of his property 

 lie at too great a distance for tenants to attend at the principal office, and if on this he 

 has a secondary residence, an inferior office is there required for such detached part. 

 And it may be laid down as a rule, in the management of landed property, Marshal ob- 

 serves, that every distant part of an estate ought to have a place upon it (be it ever so 

 humble) in ^vhich its possessor may spend a few days comfortably ; to diffuse over it a 

 spirit of good order and emulation. He has known the most neglected and almost 

 savage spot, such as are many landed estates in Ireland, reclaimed and put in a train of 

 improvement by this easy method. 



4645. The accommodations requisite for a principal office are, a commodious business 

 room, a small ante-room ; and a safe-keep, or strong room, fire proof, for the more valu- 

 able documents. 



4646. The jn-ofessional furniture with which an office of this description requires to be 

 supplied are maps, rental-books, books of valuation, register, legal papers, and some 

 others. 



4617. A general map of the whole estate on a large scale is an obvious requisite ; and portable separate 

 maps, with accompanying registers and other descriptive particulars, are useful in proportion as improve- 

 ments may be in contemplation. 



4648. Books of valuation are essential, especially where there are numerous small holdings on short 

 terms. In these registers are contained the number, name, admeasurement, and estimated value of each 

 field, and of every parcel of land, as well as of each cottage or other building not being part of a farm- 

 stead, on the several distinct parts or districts of the estate. The.valuations being inserted in columns, as 

 they arise, whether by general surveys, or incidentally, headed with the names of their respective valuers, 

 so that whenever a "farm is to be relet, these columns may be consulted, and its real value fixed in a 

 resurvey with the greater exactness. 



4649. A general register of timber trees, copsewood, and young plantations is particularly wanted where 

 there is much hedgerow timber. Marshal directs to specify in this register the number of timber trees in 

 each wood, grove, hedgerow, and area, with the species, number, and admeasurement of each tree. He 

 also recommends separate pocketbooks, containing the particulars of each division, or of a number of 

 contiguous divisions, for the occasional use of the manager and woodreeve. 



4650. Contracts, agreements, accounts, letters on business, and other documents, should be intelligibly 

 endorsed, dated or numbered, and arranged so as to be easily referred to. A book of abstracts, or heads 

 of papers of greater importance, should be made out to be referred to on ordinary occasions, and likewise 



