792 
Profit-Sharing in Agriculture. 
be obtained on mortgage at 3^ per cent, wbere there is a 50 per 
cent, margin. Here the cover is over 700 per cent. A fairly 
solvent landowner, therefore, should have no diflSculty in bor- 
rowing for this purpose what money he requires at exceptionally 
low rates of interest. But a farmer who has to pay his rent 
before he receives any interest on the capital invested in the 
farm is very differently situated. 
The working capital of the farm is now degraded from an 
exceptionally safe preferred position, to one that is highly risky, 
and when the character of the risk is considered, no one will 
dispute the right of the tenant-farmer to claim at least 1 0 per 
cent. But just as the tenant is entitled to receive 10 per cent, 
upon his capital, where the landowner is content to receive 
4 per cent., because the tenant's interest is a deferred and not 
a preferential charge, so the landowner, when he takes a farm 
in hand, ought to receive a higher rent than he can obtain 
from a tenant in order to compensate him for the extra risk 
he runs. 
The reason why landowners, as a rule, let their estates to 
tenant-farmers, rather than farm them through bailiffs, is 
that they prefer the luxury of a fixed and regular income of 
a moderate amount, to the prospect of a higher income which 
in exceptionally bad years may disappear altogether. 
The advantages which appear to dwell in the profit-sharing 
system as applied to agriculture may now be summed up. 
As far as the landowner is concerned, the facts I have quoted 
show the advantage to him is no small one. Speaking from the 
point of view of a landowner, I can say that, apart from the great 
satisfaction which has accompanied the successful working out 
of a progressive theory, my occupation of East Learmouth has 
added immensel}' to the pleasures of proprietorship, the rights of 
which I now enjoy far more fully than when the farm was leased 
to another. 
I hav^e increased my income ; I possess undivided sporting 
rights over the farm ; I have a most excellent and comfortable 
farm-house, which I can occupy or let as I please ; and last, but 
not least, 1 feel absolutely secure against any possibilities which 
future legislation, based on the lines of the Irish Land Acts, may 
have in store for English landowners. 
The advantages to the labourer are no less evident. The 
fact that the labourer is trusted, and welcomed as a partner 
in the profits of the farm, in itself lends a new complexion 
to all the various duties which go to make up his working day. 
He is conscious that a greater dignity attaches to his position, 
