194 AGRICULTURAL DEPRESSION 



lease. There was in all about ;^20,ooo expended during 

 the lease. None of the land after being once laid down 

 was broken up again, and thus the whole added fertility- 

 was left in the soil. The result was an immense increase 

 in the carrying capacity of the farm. Between three or 

 four times more stock could be kept than when Mr 

 Riddell entered. In Mr Riddell's opinion the longer 

 he farmed the land the more power he had to improve 

 it. " I found I could improve far more at the end of 

 nineteen years than I could at the beginning, and for 

 five, six, or seven years at first, proving beyond a doubt 

 that the idea that it would be exhausted in three, four, 

 or five years was ridiculous." 



The result of this treatment on the market value of 

 the farm was striking. While nearly all the farms of 

 similar position and quality in the neighbourhood went 

 down from 40 to 50 per cent, in rents, Corsehope farm 

 was relet at approximately the same rent.i Mr Riddell 

 estimates that the owner is reaping a benefit of iJ^300 a 

 year. 



Mr Riddell made the very moderate claim of ^2700. 

 The time scales were applied so as to limit the com- 

 pensation to the last six years, amounting to £762,- 

 But the proof of the increased fertility was so un- 

 answerable, and the facts as to the enormous outlay 

 in the earlier years of the lease so obvious, that the 

 oversman decided to award Mr Riddell an additional 

 sum of i^300 " for the extensive use of feeding stuffs 

 during the lease." In other words, he presented his 

 landlord with ;^300 a year for an indefinite period, and 

 was compensated with about one's year purchase of the 

 improvement. 



The contention of the majority of Scotch witnesses 

 is that the tenant should receive a full and adequate 

 compensation for the whole added value of a holding 

 caused by the long-continued high farming. 



Mr Elliot says he "treated land the same way as 

 Corsehope, and it is growing grass to-day, though it is 



* And this farm has been relet for a second term without further 

 reduction. 



