362 AGRICULTURAL SURVEY OF chap. XYl* 



take care, that whatever sum of money he shall 

 pay as occupant, whether in the name of rent, 

 or under any other designation, shall be no 

 more than the farm can bear. 



The Assessed Tax Act bore, with peculiar se- 

 verity, upon the farmers of this county ; and, 

 had it continued in force, great numbers of 

 them would have been much distressed, and 

 obliged perhaps to quit their farms. 



By that act, the income of every tenant was 

 to be held equal to three-fourths of his rent, if 

 under lool. But if his rent should be iool., 

 or upwards, his income was to be held equal to 

 his rent. It would be presumption in me to 

 question the principle upon which this mode of 

 rating the income of tenants was founded. But 

 one thing is clear, that if the principle be just, 

 farming must be a very lucrative business. For 

 it is demonstrable, that the capital employed on 

 farms of iool., and upwards, must yield at 

 least from 25 1. to 35 1. per cent, per annum. 

 A farmer's capital can rarely be calculated low- 

 er than three times his yearly rent, which, in 

 order to produce an income equal to his rent, 

 must yield 33^- per cent, profit. But suppos- 

 ing the capital to be calculated as high as four 

 times his yearly rent, even in this case the pro- 

 fit must be 25 1. per cent. It is true, some 

 farms arc so circumstanced, as to require a stock 

 equal to five or six rents. But it is equally 

 true, that the state of such farms may, and ge- 

 nerally does, require a very great proportion of 

 the stock to be sunk immediately upon improve- 

 ments, the effect of which is uncertain, and for 

 which, though ultimately successful, an ade- 



