l8o AGRICULTURAL DEPRESSION 



and leases for a certain money value of manurial return 

 to the land, either at so much an acre, or sometimes a 

 specified proportion of the value of the hay, straw, etc. 

 sold off. 



Mr Rew draws special attention to the agreements in 

 force on Sir Thomas Acland's estate, which provide that 

 "hay and straw may be removed if a quantity of 

 manure equal in value to one-half of the money for 

 which the hay or straw is sold be within the same year 

 bought back and expended on the premises, but after 

 notice to determine the tenancy, such removal shall not 

 take place without the consent in writing of the landlord 

 or his steward." 



This agreement would seem to be to the advantage of 

 the landlord as well as the tenant, and there can be no 

 doubt from the evidence that a concession of freedom of 

 cropping or sale has its money value, and not only is 

 thought certain to raise rents to a high figure, but 

 actually has had that result in practice. 



The general effect of the evidence points to one 

 obvious conclusion. The real remedy against the farm 

 wrecker or the hand-to-mouth tenant is a rigidly 

 enforced regulation or agreement as to adequate 

 manuring. This is a simple, direct, and easily ap- 

 plied check, while the elaborate contrivances by 

 which lawyers have tied the hands of enterprising and 

 practical men who know their business, and, if let alone, 

 and encouraged to seize opportunities for new methods 

 of cultivation, would benefit their landlords and the 

 country as well as themselves, have done much harm in 

 this way, and have effected little or nothing in stopping 

 the mischiefs which they were intended to prevent. 



Common sense much more than bare necessity 

 has dictated the very general relaxation in practice 

 of restrictive covenants, and it is now high time 

 that legislation should sanction what has practically 

 been agreed to between the best landlords and the 

 best tenants. The sense of confidence thus created will 

 lead to bolder and more enterprising improvement of 

 agricultural methods. 



