RURAL ENGLAND OF TO-DAY 53 



be measured by the mere value of such 

 " improvements " ; and, as matters stand, 

 there is no premium for the increase and no 

 penalty for the decrease. Nor is there, further, 

 any security against over-renting. The Agri- 

 cultural Holdings Act of 1906 brought much 

 needed relief in certain particulars. Before 

 its passing, a farmer might be and frequently 

 was put to considerable expense through being 

 evicted from his farm for some cause other 

 than bad farming or non-payment of rent ; 

 he could obtain no compensation for damage 

 by game unless it was provided for in his 

 lease ; and he was hampered by excessive 

 restrictions on freedom of cropping. But 

 some of the advantages secured by this Act 

 are in practice more apparent than real. 



The unjust conditions under which tenant- 

 farmers suffer arouse no great amount of 

 open resentment ; partly because the farmers 

 know that their landlords have themselves 

 in some cases lost heavily and are generous 

 enough to sympathise with them, but perhaps 

 still more because they have few organizations 

 of their own through which they can express 

 and enforce their wishes. Deficient in the 

 power of combination, and easily led by social 

 inducements, they can seldom be drawn into 

 farmers' clubs, or Chambers of Agriculture, 



