344 AGRICULTURAL SURVEY OF cbilp. XVI. 



rank, will be inclined to subject himself to an 

 additional burden, by expensive and more ex- 

 tended improvements ? In short, when the pro- 

 prietor of entailed lands, lias no heir of his own 

 body, or no children to provide for, and when 

 the next heir is only a distant relation, in the 

 improvement of .whose fortune he does not feel 

 himself much interested, it is generally found 

 that present profit is the great object, and that 

 no sums of any consequence are laid out upon 

 the estate, without the certain prospect of a large 

 and speedy return. 



6//6/V, Tbe short endurance of Leases is com- 

 plained of as one of the greatest obstacles to im- 

 provement. Under the article respecting leases, 

 it was observed, that on all corn farms, no lease 

 ought to be shorter than 1 9 years ; and if the 

 land, at the commencement of the lease, be in 

 an improved state, this may be a period suf- 

 ficiently long. But if the ground be in a waste 

 uncultivated state, requiring to be enclosed, 

 drained, cleared of stones, straighted and level- 

 led, fallowed, and manured with lime and dung, 

 a much longer period will be necessary. And 

 yet many proprietors are unwilling to grant 

 leases, even on such land, of a longer duration ; 

 a period within which it is impossible for the 

 tenant to execute such expensive and tedious 

 improvements, with safety and advantage. This, 

 I think, must be evident to every man who has 

 any knowledge of the business. 



Let the farm be of any given extent ; let it 

 consist, for example, of 200 acres ; suppose the 

 tenant to be intelligent, industrious, and -posses- 

 sed of a sufficient capital : let the proprietor be. 



