o64 Metayage arid its Applicability to England . 
Compared with the farmer, the metayer has more stability of 
income, and is better able to weather such a currency crisis as that 
of the last quarter of the present century. He profits by the intelli- 
gence and resources of his landlord, with whom his personal rela- 
tions generally place him on excellent terms, and these aids to his 
small capital permit of a higher type of farming than is possible to 
the farmer or the peasant proprietor who has no such collaborator. 
Though he is less independent than either the farmer or the peasant 
proprietor, he is generally more comfortable than the little owner, 
who is liable to yield to a narrow and sordid parsimony under the 
temptation of rounding off his plot of ground, and even to starve 
such land as he has in the endeavour to buy more. 
To what extent the introduction of metayage into England might 
prove successful is a question for consideration. We are accustomed 
to larger farms and to tenants of larger capital, and with these a 
landlord-partner might be a source more of irritation than of advan- 
tage. The English owner would dislike the bother of supervision 
and the uncertainty of his income, whilst the English tenant would 
resent “ interference ” in his management of the farm. Possibly, 
too, the English soil and climate might oppose difficulties unknown 
to the cultivators of France and Italy, whilst, finally, the social 
constitution of our country might raise a further obstacle. The 
French law of succession, which has accustomed peasants to divide 
property frequently among themselves, smooths the way to the 
division of their produce with the landlord, an operation which 
might not be so easily effected where it is less familiar. If, however, 
the farmers of England should continue to suffer as heavily as they 
have done in the last few years, and the owners of land, failing 
tenants, should employ bailiffs and stimulate their interests by 
making their remuneration vary with the profits, we should not be 
far removed from the contract of metayage. Produce rents would 
be another step in the same direction. 
Rigid as metayer tenure may at first sight seem to be, it is sus- 
ceptible of considerable elasticity. The usages ruraux of Laval 
differ in several respects from those of its adjoining arrondissement 
of Chateau-Gontier ; the landlord may at each new contract adjust 
such details as who is to pay the taxes, or may vary the size of the 
farm, the amount and the shares of capital supplied, or the quantity 
of labour required. On the whole there appears to be a balance of 
advantage in favour of metayage, so far as small farms and small 
capitals are concerned. It is conceivable, though nothing points 
to such a course as probable, that metayage might supply a bridge 
between the tenants of small holdings and a new class of yeomen in 
this country. 
