104 



Farming of Northam'pto\isliire, 



to the size of the occupation. It is not necessary that it should 

 be a costly building, but it should be made comfortable and con- 

 venient ; for if the tenant of 200 or 300 acres of land has the re- 

 quired capital, skill, and enterprise for its proper cultivation, 

 surely there is a fitness in his residence being appropriate to his 

 situation in life, and there is no absolute necessity for such a man 

 to hide his head in a hovel. 



Improvements of this kind, although much required, must of 

 necessity be a work of time. Many proprietors have not the 

 means at command, and others have not the inclination to meddle 

 with bricks and mortar; but in the mean time much may be done 

 by the tenantry being assisted with rough timber, and other build- 

 ing materials, by the landlord, for the extension and improvement 

 of their present accommodation, as it is admitted by all men 

 practically acquainted with farming operations, that a good con- 

 venient homestead is indispensable for the proper and profitable 

 cultivation of the soil. 



There requires an improvement in the tenure of land, iji order 

 to give greater security for the cajntal invested hy the tenant. 

 Nearly all the occupations of land in this county are held upon a 

 yearly tenure — very few leases are granted. An attorney in this 

 county informed me that having been in practice amongst a rural 

 population for thirty years, he did not remember being called 

 upon to draw out a lease for a farm. 



Most of the farms are either Michaelmas or Lady-day holdings, 

 terminating at the 10th of October or 5th of April, and some 

 being regulated by the 29th of September and 25th of March. 



Many farms are held under no regular agreement, but are 

 guided by the " custom of the county," which is not very definite 

 with regard to the cultivation of the land, and allows considerable 

 latitude in the growth of corn crops. It includes in its general 

 meaning that the tenant is to keep all gates, stiles, and outbuild- 

 ings in tenantable repair. The proprietor to find rough timber 

 and building materials ; all hay, straw, and root-crops to be con- 

 sumed on the land, and converted into manure, which is to be the 

 property of the landlord. At the expiration of a Michaelmas 

 tenancy the out-going tenant is to be paid for working the pre- 

 ceding summer fallows, and to be allowed one year's rent, rates, 

 and taxes on the same, and for the seeds and turnips sown ; and 

 to be allowed the use of the barn and yard until the next Lady- 

 day, or the 1st of May (as agreed upon), for the purpose of 

 threshing the corn and spending the strav/. When the tenancy 

 expires at Lady-day the outgoing tenant is to be paid for the 

 growing crops of wheat, for the winter ploughing, for the young 

 seeds, and is allowed the use of the yard until May or June, to 

 spend any remaining straw. Under this custom no compensation 



