Agriculture of Norfolk. 
349 
informed is the case in some parts of the county), all the most 
important benefits of a lease are obtained. Or, supposing the 
owner should give notice to quit, or increase his rent, he will re- 
cognise the right of the tenant, or his representative, to a fair 
allowance for such his permanent improvements (not, of course, 
where the tenant abandons the occupation voluntarily) : even that 
security might justify a liberal outlay of capital, and would pro- 
bably cause great and general improvement in cultivation. Thus, 
although 21 years' leases are common on the estates of the Earl 
of Leicester and others, there are some highly cultivated farms in 
Norfolk held as yearly tenancies ; and several tenant-farmers told 
me, that with such landlords as the Earl of Albemarle, and such 
custom as the one just described, they should care little about 
having a lease. In other words, they would feel assured, that no 
new agent — ignorant of the value of land, because he did not 
know how to cultivate it — who could not tell which soil was most 
expensive to till, or whether the superior produce on a given farm 
resulted from a superior soil or better cultivation — that no such 
person as this should be sent down "to value" (as he would call 
it) their farms, and to report (as he, of course, would), that all who 
— by their liberal application of manure — by their great outlay in 
draining, claying, marling, &c. — had most distinguished them- 
selves, were just the persons, and the only persons, whose rents 
ought immediately to be increased — because they had better crops 
than their neighbours ; not taking into consideration that this, of all 
others, is the most effectual check to improvement that anyone can 
apply. 
I met with a few instances of corn-rents. Although these 
evince a kind and sympathizing feeling on the part of the land- 
lord, yet corn-rents do not provide against those differences in. 
prices which are occasioned by a very good, or very bad, harvest 
at home. If we take the two extremes, we find a wide difference 
in the quantity of corn the tenant heis to sell : therefore, in some 
years, corn-rents would operate unjustly towards the landlord, and 
in others towards the tenant. I heard of a case in which a gentle- 
man let his farms (situate at the western end of the countv) under 
corn-rents, but some bad seasons following, the tenants were un- 
able to pay increased rents out of deficient crops, and, therefore, 
were compelled to throw up their leases. 
Grass. 
Thereis only a small proportion of old grass-land in the county, 
and what there is, cannot generally be called good, though there 
are some very beautiful pastures, in and near the marshes. In 
treating grass, as well as arable, the farmers of Norfolk keep to 
the plan of giving to stock, in the first instance, what is intended to 
