762 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



to serve as an index to the originals, which require a more secure repository than a common business, 

 room. 



4651. Legal documents, such as title deeds, legal decisions, awards of arbitration, counterparts of leases, 

 securities, cash, bills, passed accounts, &c., as being the most important objects, should be carefully depo- 

 sited in the safety-chest or strong room. 



4652. Portable registers of the tenanted lands, in convenient pocket volumes, with maps on a small scale 

 heading every farm, are, according to Marshal, who seems to have looked upon tenants as placed in a state 

 of continual hostility with their landlords, a most invaluable description of books both for the manager and 

 Ivs employer. Two opposite pages being appropriated to each farm with its map, the following information 

 should be given : 



Name of the farm and its number of acres. The eligibility of the plan and circumstances of 



The name of the tenant and the existing rent. the farm. 



The tenancy ; if on lease, the term of expiring. The eligibility of the occupier. 



Any extraordinary covenant of the lease. The eligibility of the present rent. 



The number of cottages let with the farm. The state of the buildings, fences, and gates. 



The number of timber trees growing on it. roads, and watercourses. 



The number of orchard trees growing on it. The state of cultivation, and condition of the live 



stock. 



4653 AdcT, among other things, the following, viz. : 



The repairs more immediately wanted. With any other incident or occurrence respect- 



The improvements of whicn the whole is suscep. ing the farm or its occupier, tliat requires to be 

 tible. remembered; and with references to the books 



The agreements entered into with the tenant. and papers which may pertain to the several parti- 



The permissions granted him. culars; thus having at one view a complete abstract 



The injunctions delivered to him. of the history and present state of every farm, to- 



With a hint as to his personal character, and the gether with the particulars of attention which each 

 number and general character of his family. will require. 



4654. The trouble of forming an abstract of this kind, or of renewing it when filled, or in order to adapt 

 it to the varying circumstances of the several farms, is inconsiderable, compared with its uses, which are 

 not only obvious in theory, but are fully established in practice. On returning to an estate, after twelve 

 months* absence. Marshal has generally found, that, by consulting a register of this sort, and, through its 

 means, making systematic enquiries respecting the incidents that have occurred on the several farms 

 during his absence; he, in this summary way, and before he entered upon a fresh view, became better 

 acquainted not only with the general interests, but with the more ordinary business, of the estate, than 

 the acting manager, who had constantly resided upon it, without such a remembrancer. This abstract 

 or remembrancer, he says, ought not to comprehend tenanted farms only ; but should comprise woodlands, 

 quarries, the demesne, &c. in hand ; as well as the more important improvements going on : each of which 

 ought to have its separate folio assigned it. To a proprietor, or his confidential friend, who only goes 

 over his estate occasionally, such an intelligent companion is essentially serviceable. He cannot profit, 

 ably direct, nor safely advise with, an acting manager, or other agent or officer of the estate, until he has 

 consulted so infallible an oracle. The utility of such a register, while a proprietor is absent from his 

 estate, if he can be said to be so, with such a faithful mirror in his possession, is too obvious to require 

 explanation. 



465.5. Among the instruments necessary for a manager's office, may be included those requisite for sur. 

 veying, mapping, levelling, measuring timber, and every description of country work, together with 

 boring machines, draught measurers, weighing scales, some chemical tests, models, and such other articles 

 as may be required or rendered useful by particular circumstances. 



4656. An agricultural library may be considered an essential requisite ; including works on rural archi. 

 tecture, the prices and measuring of work, and other riuctuating matters ; and one of the best encyclo- 

 pcedias of universal knowledge. We have already suggested an important use to which such a library 

 might be apphed. 



4657. Such an establishment and place of business as has been described, we agree with 

 Marshal in thinking, many will consider as in some degree superfluous or extravagant. 

 In many cases we admit it would be so ; but it is impossible to determine what things 

 can be done without, unless a particular case were given. Such a minute register of 

 farms, for example, would be quite ridiculous on an estate in East Lothian, where 

 tenants are of sufficient wealth and respectability of manners to be treated as men ; and 

 not watched and schooled like those which Marshal seems generally tq have in view. As 

 tenants of land become enlightened, they will be very differently treated from what in 

 many places they are at present. As a proof of this, we have only to compare one dis- 

 trict of country with another. In East Lothian, Berwickshire, and some other parts of 

 Scotland, the farmers are as intelligent as their landlords ; and the transactions which 

 take place between them resemble the transactions which take place between one mer- 

 cantile man and another. In districts where the tenant has little capital, and where he 

 is sunk in ignorance, he ranks with the labourer, and occupies his farm by a sort of suf- 

 ferance. It is a pity that the ignorance and seclusion of such men do not admit of their 

 comparing their state with that of others possessing no greater capital, but more know- 

 ledge and skill : it is a pity, we say, for the sake of their children, whom they might 

 thus be induced to educate. 



Chap. II. 



Duties of Managers of Estates. 



4658. The vanous duties of the manager, or the proprietor, of a landed estate, may be 

 considered under the heads of general business, business with tenants, and auditing 

 accounts. 



