MCt. FA THE COUNTY OF FIFE. I IX 



to thrash more of his victual than may be bare- 

 ly necessary for the sustenance of his family and 

 servants. If then the rent is to be paid at Mar- 

 tinmas, he must either borrow money for that 

 purpose, which no prudent farmer would wish 

 to do, or he must pay his rent with the money 

 which he meant to expend in furnishing the ne- 

 cessary means of improvement, 



Even the payment of the first half year's rent 

 at Candlemass, though not so great a hardship, 

 may, in many cases, be injurious to the tenant, 

 as it may oblige him to dispose of his grain or 

 livestock at a disadvantage. Supposing this to 

 be the universal condition of leases, all tenants, 

 except such as may be in affluent circumstances, 

 would be obliged to dispose of a large proportion 

 of their grain in the winter months, by which 

 means the markets would be glutted, and the 

 prices brought under their natural level. This 

 inconvenience farmers could avoid, if they 

 had it in their power to delay the sale, or to 

 give a longer day to their merchants. On this- 

 account Whitsunday sterns to be the properest 

 term for the first payment ; and as the farmer 

 must have a considerable portion of his grain to 

 thresh after seed time, he can dispose of this 

 with advantage through the summer months, 

 the price of which, and of the cattle he may 

 have fed through winter, will enable him to com- 

 plete the payment of the year's rent at Lammas. 

 In short, it seems unreasonable to require a te- 

 nant to pay a money-rent earlier than the pro- 

 prietor himself could have raised it from the 

 produce, had the farm, been in his own posses- 

 sion. 



