LEASES AND YEARLY TENANCY. 81 



a great portion of one harvest might be sold very differently from the 

 first sales. 



Buildings. It is quite proper that a tenant should keep all the build- 

 ings in good repair, but he should receive them in thoroughly good condi- 

 tion. Every landed proprietor should put the buildings on a farm in good 

 condition before letting it to a tenant, and then he is perfectly justified 

 iii binding the tenant to keep them in good order. This may take some 

 expenditure on the landlord's part ; but he cannot expect a farm to let 

 to so much advantage with the buildings in a dilapidated state as it 

 would if all were in thorough good order. In fact, a farm should never 

 be put into the market with the buildings out of order. Let the pro- 

 prietor first see that the buildings are adequate for the purposes of the 

 farm, and then bind the tenant to keep them in order ; and every lease 

 should contain a clause to the effect that, if it be found necessary to ex- 

 tend the buildings, the landlord should erect these at his own cost, the 

 tenant paying a reasonable interest on the outlay. 



Insurances. All farm-buildings should be insured, as also the grain 

 in the granary and stackyard. Great facility is given in these times for 

 insuring, and it is cheaply done. There is, therefore, a want of judgment 

 in any one who does not insure against fire. The landlord should see that 

 all the buildings on his estate are insured, and that the tenants have 

 insured their stock and crop. The following are the rates of the North 

 British and Mercantile Insurance Company for farming property in the 

 United Kingdom : 



1st. Thatched farmhouses not in towns or villages, but standing detached and 



apart more than fifty feet from other thatched houses, . . 5s. per cent. 



2d. Thatched farm outbuildings on a farm, 3a. 



3d. Farm outbuildings, brick, and tiled or slated ; timber, or any other 



construction, and tiled or slated, not less than . . . . 3s. 



4th. Agricultural produce and farming stock, whether for a year or 



shorter period, 5s. 



Steam thrashing-machines are allowed to be used without any extra 

 charge ; and if an insurance is made for a period of seven years, six years' 

 premiums are only charged. Besides these charges there is a Govern- 

 ment duty of 3s. per cent per annum upon buildings. 



I now come to give a specimen of an English agreement between 

 landlord and tenant, as used on several large estates in the north of 

 England, for farms let from year to year. I do not give it as a model 

 agreement for yearly tenancies, but as a sample of what is usually done ; 

 but I may state that it is one which is much more liberal in its terms 

 than is usually to be found. After having given it, I shall proceed to 

 make some remarks on it : 



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