532 On the tenures and fiscal relations of [No. 164. 



or crop were divided between them. Many causes, however, tend to 

 disturb the primitive simplicity of this arrangement ; the degree of labor 

 requisite to ensure a compensating return is liable to great variation. 

 Labor is not the only capital needed : the implements of husbandry, 

 cattle employed in agriculture, seed, the means of protection, — all 

 require outlay, and it soon becomes a question, in what proportion this 

 is to fall on the contracting parties ? The landlord must con- 

 stantly observe his tenant to ensure his honesty, and the tenant is 

 discouraged by the reflection that one-half of his labor must be bestow- 

 ed for the benefit of another. The first step towards the adjustment 

 of these difficulties is, generally, a variation in the proportion of the 

 crop receivable by the landlord, calculated with reference to the con- 

 tribution which he makes towards the joint capital employed in the 

 cultivation, whether in the shape of seed, cattle, hired labor, or any 

 thing else necessary to raising the crop. Where the cultivator contri- 

 butes labor only, he receives somewhat less than one- half of the crop; 

 where he contributes both labor and capital, he receives more: the 

 latter is most commonly the case in India, but even after the adjust- 

 ment of the proportions due to either party, difficulties will still re- 

 main, in any scheme of partition. The two most important have already 

 been noticed — the necessity on the part of the landlord, of constantly 

 watching his tenant ; and the discouragement on the part of the tenant, 

 in bestowing extra labor and capital. To obviate these inconveniences, 

 the landlord allows the tenant to redeem the proprietor's share in the 

 proceeds, and this gives rise to money-rents, or the payment of rents 

 of money. Although a revenue officer in this country has generally the 

 task of discovering and recording the rents actually paid, rather than 

 that of determining what they ought to be ; yet it is important, that he 

 should have some knowledge of the various causes which affect the 

 adjustment of money-rents, and indeed his doing so is essential to his 

 understanding the different tenures under which ryuts hold, and the 

 rates at which they are assessed. Soil, stock, and labor, are all three 

 necessary to the production of a crop : if these were all three contribut- 

 ed in proportions of equal value, it is evident that the hire of the soil 

 should equal one-third of the whole produce ; but in agreeing to pay 

 an unvarying rent the tenant ensures the landlord against losses by 

 failures of crop, defective seasons, fluctuations in the value of grain and 



