114 AGRICULTURAL SURVEY OF chap. V. 



deal of money in the improvement of it ; but, 

 before the expiration of his lease, and before he' 

 has been able to indemnify himself, he falls into 

 distress, and becomes unable to manage his own 

 affairs ; has no child or heir capable of supply- 

 ing his place, and no person to take charge of his 

 business, on whose iidelity and ability he can de- 

 pend. If, in this case, he shall subset his farm 

 to a man of character, against whom the land- 

 lord can have no reasonable objection, would it 

 not be hard, not to say cruel, to prevent him ? 

 Surely neither the proprietor, nor the interest of 

 the farm, would be injured by such a substitu- 

 tion. 



Again, suppose a farmer's oldest son, his 

 heir at law, disliking the employment of his fa- 

 ther, engages in another line of business, or, 

 turning out a spendthrift, will engage in no bu- 

 siness at all ; would it not be cruel to prevent 

 the father from assigning his tack to a second 

 or third son, who is sober and industrious, and 

 has, perhaps, been his father's chief assistant in 

 the management of his farm ? 



Or, supposing the farmer to leave a widow 

 with an infant family, who must be unfit them- 

 selves to manage the farm after his death, and 

 cannot depend on the knowledge, the industry, 

 or fidelity of servants ; would it not be cruel in 

 the extreme, to prohibit from subsetting ? On 

 the contrary, humanity requires that the ruin 

 of the young family be prevented ; and justice 

 says, that they should not be deprived of the 

 fruits of a father's industry, and of the money 

 he has expended on the farm. These clauses, 

 in tacks respecting the seclusion of assignees and 



