Book V. EXTENT, TENURE, AND RENT OF FARM LANDS. 777 



Sect. VIII. Extent of Land suitable for a Farm. 



4781. The extent of ground which a farmer proposes to occupy demands due consideration. 

 If it be beyond his capital to cultivate or improve, he can derive no profit by taking it. 

 On the other hand, a small occupation may not be worthy of his attention. 



4782. Farms as to size may be divided into three sorts : small farms imder 100 acres ; 

 moderate-sized farms, from 100 to 200 acres ; large farms, from 200 to 1000 acres, and 

 upwards, of land fit for cultivation. The expense of labour is now so great, and the rent 

 of land so high, that the profits of a small farm are not sufficient, with the utmost 

 frugality, or even parsimony, to maintain a family with comfort. 



4783. Moderate-sized farms are well calculated for the dairy system, for the neighbourhood of large 

 towns, and where capital is not abundant. There are few trades in which a small capital can be employed 

 to a greater advantage than in a dairy farm, yet there is no branch of agriculture where such constant and 

 imremitting attention is required. That is not to be expected from hired servants ; but it is in the power 

 of the wife and daughters of the farmer to perform, or at any rate to superintend, the whole business, and 

 without their aid it cannot be rendered productive. 



4784. Moderate-sixcd farms are general in the neighbourhood of towns. This necessarily results from 

 the high rents paid in such situations ; the shortness of the leases usually granted of land near towns; 

 and the necessity the farmer is under of selling, in small quantities, the articles produced on his farm. 

 On this subject it has been remarked, that farmers in the vicinity of large towns resemble retail shop- 

 keepers, whose attention must be directed to small objects, by which a great deal of money is got, the 

 greater part of which would be lost, without the most unremitting attention. The farmer at a distance 

 from markets, who cultivates on a great scale, may be compared, on the other hand, to a wholesale trader, 

 who, as his profits are less, requires a greater extent of land, for the purpose both of engaging his atten- 

 tion, and of enabling him to support that station of life in which he is placed. There is this difference 

 also between farmers in the neighbourhood of towns, and those who reside at a distance from them, that 

 the former find it more profitable to sell their produce, even such bulky articles as turnips, potatoes, 

 clover, hay, and straw, than to fatten cattle for the butcher ; and they are enabled to do so, without injury 

 to their farms, as they can procure dung in return. 



4785. Fanns of the largest size differ in respect to the capital required. A mountain breeding farm of 

 5(X)0 acres will not require more to stock it than an arable farm of 500 acres, and much less expense of 

 labour to carry it on. In all cases the safe side for the farmer to lean to, is to prefer a farm rather under 

 than exceeding his capital : and let him consider well beforehand whether he is going to commence a 

 retail farmer for daily markets, or a manufacturer of produce on a large and ample scale ; for the spirit, 

 attention, and style of living of the one differs materially from that of the other. The subject of this 

 section and the two following having been treated in a general way as between landlord and tenant in the 

 preceding chapter, will be here only briefly noticed as on the part of the tenant. 



Sect. IX. Tenure on which Lands are held for Farming. 

 4786. Perpetual tenures, or absolute property in land, can never come into considera- 

 tion with a farmer looking out for a farm. A proprietor cultivating his own property 

 cannot, in correct language, be said to be a farmer ; for to constitute the latter an essential 

 requisite is the payment of rent. 



4787. The leases on which lands are let for farming are for various terms, and with very different cove- 

 nants. The shortest lease is from year to year, which, unless in the case of grass lands in the highest 

 order, and of the richest quality, or under some other very peculiar circumstances, no prudent man, whose 

 object was to make the most of his skill and capital, would accept of Even leases for seven or ten years 

 are too short for general purposes ; a period of fourteen or fifteen years seems to be the shortest for arable 

 lands, so as to admit of the tenant paying a full rent ; but fourteen years, when the lands to be entered on 

 are in bad condition, are too few, and twenty-one years much better for the true interests of both parties. 

 In farming, however, as in every other occupation where there are more skill and capital in want of em- 

 ployment than can find subjects to work on, farms will be taken under circumstances, both in regard to 

 leases and rent, that are highly unfavourable to the farmer ; and if they do not end in his ruin will keep 

 him always poor, and probably not only pay less interest for his capital than any other way in which he 

 could have employed it, but also infringe on its amount. The rapid depreciation of currency which took 

 place in Britain during the wars against the French deceived many farmers, and flattered them for a time 

 with the gradual rise of markets year after year. However high land might be taken at the commence- 

 ment of a lease, it was always considered a consolation that it would be a bargain by the time it was half 

 done ; and that the farmer's fortune would be made during the last few years of its endurance. When 

 the currency of Britain was permitted to find its level with that of other countries, the delusion ceased, 

 and the majority of farmers were partially or wholly ruined. 



4788. In regard to the covenants of a lease, it is necessary that there should be such in everyone as shall 

 protect both landlord and tenant. Certain general covenants in regard to repairs, renewals if necessary, 

 timber, minerals, entry and exit crops, are common to all leases. Regulations as to manure are required 

 where hay and straw, and other crops, are sold not to be consumed on the farm. Water meadows, rich 

 old grass lands, copse woods, hop grounds, orchards, &c. require special covenants. Fewest covenants are 

 required for a mountain breeding farm ; and in all cases there should be a clause entitling the tenant to 

 an appeal, &c., and a hearing from the landlord, and perhaps a jury of landlords or agents and farmers, 

 against covenants as to cropping, repair, or renewals, which may, from extraordinary circumstances, press 

 particularly heavy on the tenant. 



4789. The power of Vie landlord to grant a lease, with liberal conditions, may in some cases be required 

 to be ascertained by the tenant ; and in Scotland, where it is illegal to sublet a farm unless a clause to that 

 effect has been inserted in the original lease, a farmer may cease to be the master of his own property, 

 unless he has taken care to see that clause inserted. In England, for the most part, subletting a farm is 

 no more prohibited than subletting a dwelling-house or a shop. When the laws of countries shall come 

 to be founded on equity, this will be the case every where. At present they almost every where lean to 

 the side of the powerful party, the landlord. In the progress of things it could not be otherwise. 



Sect. X. Rent. 



4790. The rent of land, in a general point of view, must always depend on a variety 

 of circumstances ; as the wealth of the country ; its population ; the price of produce ; 

 the amount of public and other burdens ; the distance from markets ; the means of con- 

 veyance ; the competition among farmers ; and other less important considerations : but 

 the rent of any particvilar farm must be regulated by the nature of the soil ; the duration 



