338 AGRICULTURAL SURVEY OP chap. 



gal intereft for his money in the meantime ; and 

 as the tenant will be bound to leave the fences 

 in good and sufficient condition, he may expect 

 a rise of rent, at the expiration of the lease, in 

 consequence of, and in proportion to this im- 

 provement. Seven and a half per cent., howe- 

 ver, is the interest usually required. Some ten- 

 ants, who know the inconvenience of possessing 

 open farms, will rather comply with the terms, 

 hard as they are : but a far greater number are 

 deterred from inclosing on such conditions 

 And as this plan is hard and oppressive, 

 so it seems not altogether reasonable. The 

 money laid out by the proprietor an inclosing, 

 may be considered as lent to the tenant, to be re- 

 paid at the end of the lease, by the fences he 

 leaves upon the ground. And there can be no 

 good reason why extraordinary interest should 

 be paid for money lent in this way more than 

 in any other way. It may happen, indeed, that 

 the value of the fences, at the end of the lease, 

 may not be equal to the money expended. But 

 the tenant can be bound, in that case, to pay the 

 landlord the difference, upon its being fairly a- 

 scertained. This would oblige the tenant to be 

 as economical as possible in the outlay of the 

 money, consistently with the sufficiency of the 

 fences, supposing the execution of the work en- 

 trusted to him, and would render him careful in 

 rearing and protecting them, and in keeping 

 them in good repair to the last. 



This hardship, however, is becoming gradu- 

 ally less common. As the old leases expire, 

 this point is adjusted and settled with the in- 

 coming tenant, and, for the most part, on terms 



