ON THE THEOET OF EENT. 



513 



restriction, "wbicli some agriculturists so mucli affect, would, I liave no 

 doubt, speedily commend itself to general acceptance, and save landlords 

 and tenants many an argument. • 



Attempts have been made to obtain such returns which indicate the 

 general feeling in this direction. In a recent report by a committee of 

 the farmers of Banffshire valuable statistics are given of the value of 

 beef for forty years, which, taken along with the ascertained value of oats 

 in that county, present a very fair view of the relative position of agri- 

 cultural produce year by year. 



I have compiled from the returns of the fiars prices of grain in the 

 counties of Midlothian, Fife, Forfar, Aberdeen, Linlithgow, and Berwick, 

 a statement of the fluctuations of prices of grain grown in these 

 counties.^ 



There are one or two deductions to be drawn from these figures, 

 which are not, I think, readily recognised by those who look at them 

 solely through the spectacles of the agriculturist. They leave no doubt 

 as to the very serious fall in the value of produce. Combining the 



' See note, p. 540. Might not a thoroughly organised agricultural department 

 afford to landlords and tenants a measure, not only of the value of the produce, but 

 of the fair and proper rent, taking into account in each district not only the value of 

 the produce every year, as contrasted with the value of the standard or initial year, 

 but also the results derivable from fair ctUtivation in that season : so that those who 

 chose to avail themselves of that method might have year by year such a measure as 

 would give as the rent that fair share of the produce of the farm which the parties 

 may have agreed to adopt as the rent, — in a good year with high prices a large rent ; 

 in a bad year with low prices a very low rent ; in a good j^ear with bad prices, or in 

 a bad year with good prices, a rent measured by those qualified to appreciate and to 

 determine impartially the special influence of each element ? 



' See Appendix. 



