+— 
68 
derision or mistrust of his people ; his knowledge 
of land-surveying is requisite for his advantage- 
ously laying out half-waste lands, and for his 
checking the proceedings of professional men ; 
| and his knowledge of the principles of engineer- 
ing, the laws of mechanical science, and the dis- 
coveries of chemistry, meteorology, electro-mag- 
‘netism, vegetable physiology, and experimental 
philosophy, are requisite for his superintending 
processes of thorough-draining, laying out water- 
meadows, directing the construction of the mill 
'and engine-works of the farmery, assisting in 
analyses of soils, explaining the phenomena of 
| 
| occasional failure in crops, directing a judicious 
selection and application of manures, detecting 
minute causes of depredations in the action of 
insects and fungi, encouraging eligible experi- 
|ments in fertilizing and culture, and promoting 
the hundreds of other processes for improvements 
'in farming which are suggested by the combined 
progress of scientific discovery and artistic skill. 
If it be said that few men possess all these quali- 
| fications, then the sooner every land-steward be 
required to possess them all the better; and, in 
the meantime, let only him be selected for the 
| next vacancy in the office of land-steward, who 
“possesses as many of them as possible. Or if it 
be said that to require all these qualifications 
from a land-steward is to exact more from him 
than is required in a landed-proprietor, let it be 
_understood,—first, that a steward really requires 
additional qualification to compensate for the 
care and energies which arise from the mere pro- 
| prietorial zeal of the landowner,—next, that all 
‘landlords who manage their own estates would 
_ speedily find it their interest to task themselves up 
to the possession of the utmost possible amount of 
these qualifications,—and, thirdly, that, judging 
from the present rapid march of improvement, 
the time is not far off when every land-steward 
and every land-owner must either possess all 
these qualifications to the full, or incur the com- 
miseration and scorn, not only of farmers, but of 
farmers’ hinds. 
The land-steward ought statedly to reside either 
in the mansion of the estate, or in some other com- 
fortable and equally central abode; and if a por- 
tion of the estate lie at such a distance as not to 
be under easy supervision from his stated resi- 
dence, he ought to have there a comfortable se- 
condary residence, and to spend in it small pe- 
riodical portions of his time. His professional 
apartments ought to be a principal office, a com- 
modious business-room, a small ante-room, and a 
safe-keep or small fire-proof room; and his pro- 
fessional furniture ought to include a general 
map of the estate, portable separate maps with 
accompanying registers, books of valuation of 
_each field and tenement, rental-books, a general 
register of trees and copsewood, legal documents, 
a book of abstracts, a small laboratory, an agri- 
AGENT. 
some of the details of furniture and appliances 
of management which are quite essential for con- 
ducting the agency of a minutely divided estate, 
farmed by ignorant peasant-tenantry in Ireland, 
would be quite useless and even absurd in the 
factorship ofa largely divided, opulently tenanted, 
and intelligently farmed estate in the best agri- 
cultural districts of Scotland ; for in the former 
case the agent deals with a rabble and -boorish 
crowd of potato-fed tenants-at-will, while, in the 
latter, the factor deals with a small body of well- 
conditioned gentlemen, almost or altogether his 
equals in both intelligence and rank. 
A land-steward either may be the bailiff of a 
manor in his own person, or may enjoy the as- 
sistance of such an officer in the person of another 
man. When an estate possesses not the status of 
a manor, its powers of legal agency are wielded 
by the steward ; and when an estate does pos- 
sess that status, these powers are wielded by 
the bailiff. A steward cannot bind his principal 
beyond the limits of his delegated authority ; 
for though, if he were a general agent, he would 
in every official proceeding bind his principal, 
yet, because he is an agent, or holds an appoint- 
ment for only a particular purpose, he can bind | 
no farther than to the extent of instructions 
given. A lease agreed for with an agent who, 
acts under power of attorney, and executed by | 
such an agent in terms of agreement made with 
him, binds the principal. The bailiff of a manor 
is appointed only to collect rents, gather fines, 
enforce forfeitures, and perform similar offices ; 
and having no interest or estate in the manor it- 
self, he can neither make leases for years, nor 
enter into any other contracts which affect the 
property of the manor. Yet, simply in connex- 
ion with his collecting rents, and in order to 
prevent loss to his principal from the expiry of 
leases during the latter’s absence, or incapacity, 
the bailiff has power to make leases at will, or to 
continue the quondam lessees in possession under 
the new character of tenants-at-will ; and he may 
also receive a special delegated power to grant 
leases for years,—that power, however, being only 
such as might be delegated to any other person, 
and not becoming identified with the bailiff’s 
official character, and capable of being exercised 
only within the strict limits assigned in the act 
of delegation. A bailiff may repair the materials 
of a building, but cannot substitute one kind for 
another, as, for example, slate for thatch; and, 
in general, he may do any thing which is obvi- 
ously for his principal’s benefit, but cannot, with- 
out his consent, do anything: which might be 
construed to be for his disadvantage. 
The principal subagents or assistants of the 
land-steward, on a large estate, or on one which 
consists of mutually detached portions, are the 
land-reeve, the book-keeper, the solicitor, and 
the land-surveyor. The land-reeve—also called 
cultural library, and the instruments for survey- | the woodward, the ground-officer, and the stew- 
—— 
bai bis 5,7 
and negociation, and even for his escaping the | ing, measuring, mapping, and levelling. Yet 
