LOW ON LANDED PROPERTY. 
35 
of possession is withheld, and where the in- 
dustry of the farmer is fettered by a mass of 
useless covenants; in other cases, as in a great 
part of Scotland, where the farmers are not 
removed above the condition of the poorer 
labourers ; — we have less cause to wonder at 
the slow progress which agriculture has made, 
as compared with other arts, than that so 
much has been done to add to the produce of 
the country, and supply the wants of a con- 
tinually increasing population. There are, 
indeed, throughout the country, contrasts to 
this state of things, as in the north of England, 
and in the southern and a few of the midland 
counties of Scotland, where leases have been 
established by custom, and the necessities of 
the country, in which we find a race of tenan- 
try comparatively exempt from the prejudices 
of ancient habits, educated, and giving the 
benefits of education in a yet superior degree 
to their families, and possessed of funds neces- 
sary for the progressive improvement of their 
farms. The consequences manifest themselves 
to every eye, in the improved and continually 
improving condition of the country, in the 
costly works which are constantly in progress, 
and in the large produce raised, under all the 
disadvantages of inferior soils, and a cold and 
uncertain climate. Even in the best culti- 
vated of these districts, there may be defects, 
and great ones, to be removed in the relative 
position of landlords and tenants ; but yet 
tenures have been introduced which give 
facilities for employing farming capital with 
some security ; and this security, coupled with 
such conditions of tenure as an intelligent 
tenantry learn to insist upon, before they will 
embark capital on another man's property, is 
sufficient to call forth a race of farmers capa- 
ble of acquiring knowledge of every kind, and 
profiting by the lights which the advancing 
state of the other arts supplies. If British 
agriculture, then, is subject to the reproach 
of having lingered behind the arts which have 
so distinguished the age in which we live, let 
us not so far mistake the cause, as to ascribe 
to the indocility of farmers, that which, in 
truth, has resulted from the circumstances in 
which they have been placed." — Pp. 7, 8. 
There can be no mistake about Mr. Low's 
notion that farmers have been, in too many 
cases, placed under great disadvantages; we 
fully subscribe to the author's views in many 
points, and especially do we agree that — 
" The essential conditions required to esta- 
blish fitting relations between the owners of 
land, and those who employ their capital in 
cultivating it, may be said to be: — 1st, Secu- 
rity of possession ; 2d, Equitable rents ; 3d, 
Suitable conditions with respect to the me- 
thods of culture and general management ; 
and, 4th, An adequate provision by the land- 
lord for the fixed capital invested in build 
enclosures, and other necessary append r 
the farm."— P. 8. 
There is no gainsaying this, although the 
expectations of farmers may be easily raised 
beyond the chance of being realized. Nor do 
we think that the return of a portion of rents, 
which at the best is a sort of gift, or charity, 
which sits but ill upon the independent yeo- 
man, is an indication of a proper relation 
between landlord and tenant in the original 
contract; as Mr. Low says — 
" It is common to hear of reductions of rent, 
as 10, 15, or 20 per cent, made by proprie- 
tors at their audit-days, and announced in 
newspapers, and otherwise, as acts of great 
liberality. But bounties in this form are 
nearly useless to the tenant. The necessity, 
where it exists, of making little abatements of 
his kind, should lead us to the conclusion 
that an estate is under bad management. The 
rent at which land is let should be such that 
no temporary bounties of this kind can be 
needed. The tenant who takes land, and the 
landlord who lets it, should so adjust the rent 
that the tenant shall be able to bear the pres- 
sure of deficient crops, or of low prices arising 
from favourable ones ; and no prudent man 
ought to contract for a rent which will not 
allow him to meet that contingency of his 
trade which ai'ises from a fluctuation in the 
amount and price of his commodities." — P. 16. 
This is hitting the right nail on the head; 
and, by the way, this leads us to a consider- 
ation of newspaper paragraphs, which always 
follow such reductions. One Lord Benevo- 
lent reduces his rents 1 per cent, at an audit, 
and the next year he reduces them 10 per 
cent, more; and even some go to the length 
of reducing a third 10 per cent., and the local 
papers are provided with the announcement 
that this third reduction makes no less than 
30 per cent. Another, however, reduces his 
rents 25 per cent, at once, and we hear no 
more of it. Now, the difference between 
30 per cent, taken off at three different times, 
and 25 per cent, taken off at once, is small. 
The first reduction upon a rental of a hundred 
pounds, would reduce it to ninety. The 
second 10 per cent., therefore, only reduced 
the rent nine pounds ; and the third being 
upon eighty-one pounds, only reduced it eight 
pounds ; whereas the one who reduced 25 per 
cent, at once, took off, within two guineas, 
of the one who appeared a benefactor to the 
amount of 30 per cent. However, when rents 
are higher than tenants ought to pay, they 
should be at once reduced to a proper amount; 
for there should be no obligations between 
landlord and tenant, but that of quiet posses- 
o 2 
