THE VALUATION OF LANDED ESTATES. 321 



On looking at a farm, it is your duty to apply the principles adduced above, as 

 regards climate, to its particular circumstances a mode of judging which is too 

 often neglected by those who value furms, and is the cause of much discontent to 

 the tenant, after he has discovered the character of its climate by dear-bought expe- 

 rience. Let us run over the particulars which require a serious attention on this 

 subject. The temperature of the locality has a considerable influence on all crops. 

 The late Professor Playfair assumed that the lowest temperature at which corn will 

 vegetate is 40, and that corn will not ripen below a temperature of 48. He pro- 

 posed to date the vegetating season from 20th March to the 20th October, and con- 

 sidered 56 as the mean temperature of a good vegetating season. It may therefore 

 be assumed that, if the mean temperature of a place, between March and October, 

 is below 56, it is not likely to bear good crops. The altitude of a place affects its 

 temperature materially. We have seen that an altitude of 590 feet makes a dif- 

 ference of 1 of mean temperature making the effect of elevation the same as an 

 increase of latitude. This is a point which is very liable to be overlooked in the 

 interior of the country, where an elevation is insensibly gained much beyond belief. 

 The country may appear pleasant, and everything indicative of a good climate, but, 

 on inquiry, it may be found to be 600 or 800 feet above the level of the sea an 

 elevation in which wheat will not ripen, and at which even barley will be a pre- 

 carious crop, in many seasons. At such an elevation it is not improbable that ono 

 or two crops may be lost in the course of a lease of nineteen years. In such situa- 

 tions, the daily range of the temperature is great, descending low at night, after 

 having indicated a high degree during the day ; and every fanner knows that a low 

 temperature during the night has a most injurious effect upon the crops : for warm 

 nights, in effect, double the number of warm days, and a continued existence of heat 

 saves plants from the injury arising from checked growth by cold. In travelling at 

 night in England in summer, there is no circumstance so striking to a Scotsman, as 

 to find the air as warm as it usually is in the daytime in his own country. Hence tilt- 

 harvests in England are always much earlier than in Scotland ; and such a superi- 

 ority in climate will more than counterbalance superior skill. The distribution of 

 rainin the vegetating season it falling frequently being less favourable to vegeta- 

 tion, than in greater quantities at longer intervals is deserving of inquiry ; also, 

 whether the locality is affected by vapour, thereby experiencing more cloudy than 

 clear days. The lowness or highness of the dew-point has a material effect upon 

 crops. The relation between local climate and the growth and productiveness of the 

 different crops, you thus see, is deserving of your utmost attention. What effect it 

 has upon the money-rent of land it is not easy to determine ; but that land so situate 

 is of less value than that which is not affected by such local influences, cannot admit 

 of doubt. 



SECTION 3. Judging of Soils. 



In the valuation of an estate or farm, one of the most important 

 points to be noticed is the quality of the soil. The best season of the year 

 to look over and value landed property is during the months of March 

 and April, when the soil is being turned up and when the seed is sown ; 

 or immediately after harvest, as then the crops have been removed and 

 the soil can be seen. At other times the crops prevent this ; and further 



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