TENANT. 



a:ij properly regulated lealeb ot the lands which they hold, 

 remarks, that the letting of farms to tenants at will, or from 

 year to ycai-, is a moil inuvife praflice, and one which liiould 

 by all means be avoided by the proprietors of landed ellates ; 

 us fuch tenants, he contends, from the very nature of their 

 tenures, are precluded from the poffibility of making any 

 improvements ; while they have it in their power to rum the 

 lands they occupy and hold. Rapacious landlords, undcilful 

 Itewards, and yearly tenancy, it is continued, deftroy the 

 holders' or tenants' confidence, fmother tlieii- thoughts of 

 improvements, and, in fhort, make bad tenants, by fetting 

 them to contrive fome mode of occupying the lands, fo as to 

 be able to quit them, on receiving half a year's notice, with 

 the lead poilible lofs to themfelves ; and which can only be 

 done, by keeping the foil continually in a poor (late, to the 

 evident great lofTes of the proprietors, the no lefs ones of the 

 tenants, and the ftill more difadvantages of the community 

 in general. See Lease, Letting of Farms, and Quali- 

 fications of Tenants. 



The writer of the work on " Landed Property" has re- 

 marked that, on all large eltates, there are certain cftablillied 

 cuftoms and ufages to which the proprietors, as well as the 

 tenants or occupiers, confider themfelves mutually amenable, 

 although no legal contraiSs may fubfift between them ; and 

 that, even where imperfeft leafes, or other legal agreements, 

 cxift, there is ftill, in general, much left for cuftom and 

 ufage to determine. Thefe fixed regulations, though they 

 may be imperfeft, it is contended, fhould be ftriftly re- 

 garded by fuperintendents, until better ones arc fubftituted 

 in their place, not only for the fake of moral juftice, but as 

 fetting an example of integrity and good faith to the tenants. 

 Nothing of this fort fhould ever be broken through by thofe 

 in the management of fuch properties ; as tenants on all fucli 

 are conftantly to be met with ready enough to break their 

 llipulated agreements, without lucli examples ; and it muft 

 be extreme folly to induce the others who are well difpofed 

 to do the fame. On the contrai-y, it is but common pru- 

 deuce to fulfil every covenant, agreement, and promife, 

 which may have been made, with the moil fcrupulous exaft- 

 nefs, even to the meaneft cottager, in order to infpire proper 

 confidence, and obviate much mifchief. 



And befides fetting examples of thefe kinds before the 

 tenants, they ought, it is fuppofed, to be hberalized in their 

 minds, by good offices, and afts of kindnefs, which may be 

 beneficial in various ways. A Ipirited improving tenant 

 Ihould be refufed few reafonable demands : he fhould have 

 advantages conferred on him, not merely as rewards for his 

 labours in benefiting the lands, but as inducing other tenants 

 to purfue fimilar plans, and to fhew that good managers are 

 noticed and diftinguiflied. 



The confequences of an inattention to thefe matters, 

 which is too common in moft parts of the country, are very 

 prejudicial ; as the refufing of requefts which would equally 

 benefit the ellate and the tenant, the flupidly thwarting of the 

 well-meant intentions of the beil tenants upon it, the igno- 

 rantly quarrelling with them about mere trifles, and the 

 making no fort of difference between thofe who are improv- 

 ing and thofe who are ruining it, or perhaps the encouraging 

 the latter, and oppofing the former, muft have effefts of the 

 worft kind, there can be no doubt. Such tenants as are 

 capable of improving, are alfo capable of impoverifhing ; and 

 when difgufted by improper treatment, will be fure to harafs 

 the lands they hold, and take the firft chance they have of 

 removing to farms under more rational management, to the 

 great inconvenience and difadvantage of thofe which they 

 held before. 



It is obferved in the Agricultural Survey of Gloucefter- 



fliirc, that the leafes of rack-renters there genu ally coni- 

 mencc at Lady-day ; and, in this cafe, i* the vale, the 

 going-off ten.^n holds a part of the grafs-lands to olii May- 

 day, and has llkewife the going -oft' crop of wheat, with the 

 ule of the barns for the purpoie of houfing and threOiing it, 

 till the Midlummer following. In this ufage there is, the 

 writer thinks, gjeat inconvenience, cfpecially where the new 

 tenant is at variance with the old one, which is not uncom- 

 monly the cafe. Each has an opportunity of diftrefling 

 and incommoding the other in various ways. The improved 

 fpirit of agriculture has difcovered, both to landlord and 

 tenant, the abfurdity of tliis ancient cuHom ; and it is gra- 

 dually falling into difufe. Where an improvement has taken 

 place, the coming-on tenant enters the preceding Michael- 

 mas to plough the land for fpring-crops ; the tenant going 

 off at I-aJy-day ploughs for the wheat-crop, and often lows 

 it. In the cafe of ploughing only, the work is paid for; 

 and when lowed, the crop is valued at Lady-day, and paid 

 by the coming-on tenant. The going-off tenant is alfo fre- 

 quently paid for his feeds left after the laft year's crop. 

 Under this praAice, the new tenant enters on the whole of 

 tile eftate at Lady-day. And it is added, that Michaelmas 

 takings are not uncommon ; though, in one refpeft, they 

 are particularly inconvenient, as the old tenant has no time 

 to fpend the crops of the preceding fummer on the premifes, 

 and the new tenant is either obliged to fell his ftock at a moil 

 unfavourable time, or purchafe fodder for the fupport of it 

 at his new farm ; a circumftance he cannot always command, 

 and, when he can, at great lofs. But tliere are other takings 

 which commence at Candlemas, which have fome incon- 

 veniences, particularly that of enabling the new tenant to 

 " hain up" his paftures early, which is a matter of confider- 

 able confequence ; for the old tenant, going off at Lady- 

 day, always ftocks as far as he can tiU the laft moment, 

 thereby leaving the ground as bare as poftible. Nor is the 

 mifchief of this late hain'wg always compenfated by the ma- 

 nure left from the cattle, efpecially if the feafon has been 

 wet, and the ground tender. Two years' care will fome- 

 times fcarcely recover the land to a good and even turf, after 

 having been much trodden or poached. 



But with refpeft to agreements between landlord and 

 tenants, it has been fuggefted by fome, that for fmall farms, 

 leafes are lefs neceffary ; but a large one cannot well be let 

 without a leafe. Upon a fmall farm, whofe land is good, 

 a man's improvements foon come round ; and if the tenant or 

 landlord difagree, either of them is eafily accommodated ; 

 but upon a large farm it is quite otherwife. It would not 

 be worth a man's while to fix himfelf upon a large fcalc for 

 a year or two ; and it would be attended with great expence 

 and lofs, to move from any great diftance, with large quan- 

 tities of ftock, for a (hort time. Befides, the plans of im- 

 provements upon a large farm are more ej^tcnfive ; and it is 

 longer before the money laid out in them is returned, efpe- 

 cially upon poor land. But undoubtedly the tenant, upon 

 either a fmall or a large farm, ought to have a fecurity for 

 his property ; and there fhould be an agreement to allow him 

 a proportionate rccompence for every improvement by which 

 he has raifed tiie land in its value, as by giving it more ma- 

 nure than could be made from the produce of the farm. 

 When the manure produced upon tlie farm is the property 

 of the farmer, and, by the terms of his leafe, he is obliged 

 to fell it to the coming tenant at a fair valuation, he often 

 endeavours to make more manure the lall year than any 

 other, and by that means benefits the eftate ; but if, on the 

 contrary, he is not paid any thing for it, he will perhaps do 

 every thing in his power to prevent any future improvement 

 upon the wrm, as, on fome account or another, he may fancy 



himfelf 



