43 PEMBEOKESHIEE. 



cliiefly the remnants of the old system of leases for three lives, at a 

 nominal or at a verv low fine. As the lives fall in, the farms are 

 nsnally re-let at rack-rent, and subject to a six months' notice to 

 quit. As a rule the tenants make no improvements, and can there- 

 fore claim nothing at leaving. The old class of tenants with j)rofit- 

 able leases merely seem to regard their leases as a security against 

 all modern improvements, and upon the expiration of the lease the 

 premises are generally found to be ruinous, and the land in as bad a 

 condition as possible. The rack-rent tenants naturally expect every- 

 thing in the way of draining or building to be done by the landlord ; in 

 the rare cases where a tenant lays out money in improvements, the 

 landlord allo^^■s him for them, but there is no custom upon this point. 

 The tenants have seldom sufficient capital for the ordinary working ex- 

 penses and proper stocking of the farm ; all improvements by them are, 

 therefore, totally out of the question. Tiie custom is for the outgoing 

 tenant to impoverish the land by a succession of straw crops as long as 

 his landlord will allow him to do so, and when the farm is thoroughly 

 run out, he gives notice to quit. Before leaving, he has a sale of all 

 his stock, crop and manure, doAvn to tlie mud in the lanes, which he 

 usually scrapes up to make the muck heap larger. The sale is by 

 auction, with six or nine months' credit. The only allowance occasion- 

 ally made to an outgoing tenant is for the lime, which, by the custom of 

 the country, must be paid full value for, if put on the same year, and 

 half value if put on the year previous. However, several large land- 

 owners are beginning to establish a better state of things, having de- 

 termined to let their farms upon yearly agreements, with proper cove- 

 nants as to cultivation, with a view to prevent the overcropping and sale 

 of manure at the expiration of the tenancy. Some have begun to pur- 

 chase all the straw and manure of the outgoing tenant, and make the 

 incoming tenant a present of it on condition that he signs an agree- 

 ment. This involves a considerable outlay on the part of the landlord, 

 but if constantly and universally adopted, will end by entirely putting a 

 stop to the credit sales, which are a most serious evil, and will in some 

 measure compensate for the want of capital on the part of the incoming 

 tenant, who will find his farm in good condition, and will be merely 

 bound under heavy penalties to leave it as good as he found it. 



Pemlrolcesliire. — The general entry on farms is at Michaelmas, and 

 the holdings are mostly by the year. Leases arc not so common as 

 they were some years ago. Tliere are a few for lives, and some for 

 seven, fourteen, and twenty-one years. Any remuneration which the 

 outgoing tenant receives from his landlord for building or draining on 



