LEASES AND YEARLY TENANCY. 63 



such men as on others who buy none at all, is obviously neither just nor politic; 

 and we believe that any practical farmer, if he had his choice, would rather be the 

 successor of a liberal manurer, however he may have cropped, than of one who has 

 farmed by rule on the starving system. We are quite aware that in regard to the 

 first mentioned of these restrictions viz., that which forbids taking two grain crops in 

 immediate succession the contrary practice is still asserted by agricultural authorities 

 to be necessarily bad farming. Now, we do not concur with this opinion, but believe, 

 on the contrary, that when land is kept clean, and is highly manured and well tilled, 

 as it must be to grow cattle crops in perfection, the second successive crop of grain 

 will usually be better than the first, its production nowise injurious to the land, and 

 the practice in such circumstances not only not faulty, but an evidence of the skill 

 and good management of the farmer. A frequent encomium applied to a particu- 

 larly well-cultivated farm is, that " it is like a garden." The practice of market- 

 gardeners is also frequently referred to as a model for farmers. Now, the point with 

 them is to have every inch of their ground under crop of some kind at all seasons, 

 and to carry everything to market. Under such incessant cropping, the fertility of 

 the soil is maintained only by ample manuring and constant tillage. By these means, 

 however, it is maintained ; and the practice is extolled as the perfection of manage- 

 ment. Such a system must therefore be as true in farming as in gardening, when 

 the like conditions are observed. Undoubtedly he is a good farmer who, while 

 keeping his land clean and in good heart, obtains the greatest produce from it at the 

 least proportionate outlay ; and it is no valid objection to his practice merely to say 

 that he is violating orthodox rotations. 



But although I have stated that no restriction should be put upon 

 really intelligent tenants, this does not refer to a large class of farmers 

 in this country who are semi-educated, and who cannot see that there 

 is any advantage to themselves in improving and keeping their farms in 

 high condition ; and restrictions are also all the more necessary where 

 yearly tenancy exists. No rule can he laid down as to what kind of 

 cropping will answer for any farm, as so much depends upon the soil 

 and climate. In fact, no one rule will do for one estate of any consider- 

 able size. There is often a great mistake made in this respect on many 

 estates. Certain rules and conditions are drawn out to which all the 

 tenants are bound alike, notwithstanding great diversity of natural cir- 

 cumstances ; and thus we sometimes find, on the same estate, farms with 

 a clay soil and subsoil lying at an elevation of from 200 or 300 feet 

 above sea-level, and others having a light-loam soil resting on rock, 

 situated at an elevation of from 700 to 850 feet above sea-level, all 

 managed under the same set of rules and regulations. To farm both 

 kinds to advantage, it is impossible to do so when both are worked 

 under similar conditions ; if the rules, whatever they may be, suit the 

 one, they cannot do for the proper working of the other. 



All intelligent farmers should have leaser of their farms in fact, 

 very few farmers with capital at command will take a farm at the pre- 

 sent day without a lease ; and indeed the landlord is as much bene- 



