THE VALUATION OF LANDED ESTATES. 317 



they could arrive at the same conclusions by an examination of the 

 rent-book at home. 



Many purchasers of property lose largely by employing such so-called 

 " valuers," but the fact is, they are not valuers. In highly-cultivated 

 districts, the value may be ascertained very closely by such means ; but 

 where the fanning is conducted in an inferior manner, such valuations 

 will not answer the purpose. I have known estates with a low rental, 

 where the tenantry gave out that the soil was poor, and that they had 

 to pay very high rents, while the fact was, that the soil was really 

 good, and the rents low for the quality of the material ; but the farmers 

 being poor, they were not able to increase the fertility of the soil, or 

 otherwise develop the resources of their farms. 



The rent of a property should never at any time be relied upon as 

 giving the real value of an estate, as, for instance, some may suppose 

 that a well - cultivated farm, occupied by a good tenant, and let at a 

 high rent, should show the value of the farm ; but this is not the case 

 in a great many instances, as good farms generally invite a large amount 

 of competition when they are in the market, and hence they are apt to 

 be let at an unusually high rent ; and some deduction should be made 

 in valuing the farm by its rental. 



I have met with many instances in which farms let on lease at 

 a fixed rent have been greatly improved during the first years of 

 occupancy, and were of much more value when the leases were half 

 run than when the tenants took them at first. It would not, in these 

 cases, be a just valuation to take such farms at so many years' pur- 

 chase, as the probability is that they would be sold below their real 

 value. 



Again, we will suppose that there are two estates with an equal 

 rental, upon both of which improvements have been carried out for 

 some years ; but on the one the erection of buildings, making roads, 

 fences, draining, &c., have been carried out in a most substantial 

 manner, so as to continue good for a long period without any outlay 

 in repairs or otherwise keeping them up. On the other estate an 

 equal extent of improvements has probably been performed, but they 

 have been done in a temporary manner, and will in all likelihood 

 require renewing in a few years, or at least require an annual outlay 

 to keep them in an efficient state. Both of these estates could not 

 justly be valued at the same amount, even although the rentals were 

 equal. The former is certainly much more valuable than the latter, 

 and this shows the necessity of not depending upon the rental of an 

 estate as a guide in valuing it. I know an extensive Highland pro- 

 perty, with fine granite and slate quarries, producing an annual rental 



