medy at all. The evils of both the others are retained in this.

When a land-valuer makes an estimate of what the rent of a farm should be, when that rent is to be a fixed sum for a term of years, he must fix upon some data on which this must he got at. He must take the value of produce at that present time; or take the average of a number of years preceding, or what he may suppose it will average for a number of years to come; or he may strike a sort of average between them all: some data he must have, or his work is of no value. The farmer who intends to offer for it should also make his estimate, to see that the rent asked is a fair one. If he or his friends are not capable of doing this, I should consider him unfit for a farmer; and of course he would be attempting to enter into an engagement, of the nature of which he was ignorant.

In making out the estimate for rent, the following circumstances have to be duly considered:The thickness of the surface-soil. Its texture; whether clayey, loamy, stony, gravelly, sandy, or peaty. The subsoil; whether clay, marl, rock, gravel, sand, or bog. Wet or dry. Level or hilly. Convenient to farm-building and yard. Within one ring-fence, or not. State of repair of farmbuildings, occupation, roads, fences, and gates. Land much exhausted by previous bad management, or not. Farm-yard of a proper form for retaining the liquid and solid manure in a proper manner. The elevation from the level of the sea. Exposure. Thickly or thinly timbered; particularly in the hedge-rows, if it be a corn farm. Distance from lime, or other foreign manure. Distance from market. Labourers in the district; active, or otherwise, and honest. Tithe rentcharge. Rates and taxes. Game; preserved, or not. Tenure; from year to year, or on lease 7, 14, or 21 years. Price of produce. The real annual value of a farm is affected by every one of

the above circumstances.

As I have before explained, and as it has been proved in practice, that a certain fixed sum for a long term is often unfair to one party; a cornrent is considered the fairest for both, if made upon proper principles.

I always calculate there to be one bad season in seven. In the last 42 years there have been seven bad ones, which exceeds my calculation. It is often considered, by men of superficial knowledge in the practice of agriculture, that the high prices after a deficient harvest makes up for the shortness of the сгор. Upon middling and inferior soils and situations this is not so. Upon good land and warm situations it will be the case. On most soils and situations, the loss from bad seasons will amount to ten per cent. on the rent. This it is only fair to divide between landlord and tenant of course five per cent, should be deducted from the estimated rent on account of bad seasons; another five per cent. should be deducted for loss in cattle, casualties, and other losses.

It

is not all fair weather and straight-forward with the farmer; and except he is allowed a fair profit it cannot be expected he will be a good farmer, or make any improvements.

I am afraid that one cause of farmers not making much by their profession is, that, both by land-valuers and themselves, wrong estimates are made, and no deductions allowed for bad seasons and losses. If this is not done, the estimated

rent will not be a fair one, and the farmer's business will not go on well.

Too many land-valuers know little about their business. They have been brought up land-surveyors, and have taken up land-valuing without any experience whatever in the cultivation of land. What would be thought of a man setting up landsurveying and mapping, without having had any practice? In short, he could not do it. Yet, surveying and mapping is far easier and far sooner learned than land-valuing. It is impossible for any one to understand the real value of land, without actual experience in the management and cultivation of it. He ought to have ten years' practice as a rent-paying farmer. Neither should his practice be upon the best soil or in the best climate. He should be made to understand, by experience, the different natures of soils, and how they are acted upon by the various seasons. He would thus be made to feel the difference between a good one and a bad one. I have known many farmers ruined by removing from a good soil or climate to bad ones. A farm containing various qualities of soil, and in a rather inferior climate, is the place to learn the art of cultivating the land, and of course of ascertaining the true value of it.

To insure good cultivation, long leases are necessary; and with long leases, to do justice to both owner and occupier, the principle of a cornrent should be adopted. Whoever are unfavourable to this principle, must wish to take some un due advantage, whether he be owner or occupier.

After a fair rent is agreed upon, by taking every circumstance into proper consideration, with the ten per cent. deducted to cover losses from bad seasons, &c., then let the amount vary every year, according to the average price of one or more descriptions of corn or other produce for the three preceding years. I should prefer this to taking the average of the preceding year alone, or the preceding seven years.

Supposing the farm peculiarly adapted for the growth of wheat and beans, and that, with wheat at 7s. per bushel, and beans at 5s., 1007. would be a fair rent, let the tenant pay every year the value of 143 bushels of wheat and 200 bushels of beans, at the average price of the three preceding years. If the farm be a wheat and barley one, let the rent be dependent on the prices of both of these; and so with other grain. If the farm be of such a quality that anything could be grown upon it to advantage, and near favourable markets for all kinds of grain and pulse crops, then the average price of all, for the three preceding years, might be taken For in making out the annual payments as rent. instance, if the rent be made to depend on the average price of wheat, barley, oats, beans, and peas, 201. in every hundred might be dependent on the average price of each; or 301. in every hundred be dependent on one particular kind of grain, and only 101. on another, &c. So that, if the farm be more particularly adapted for one or two kinds of grain than the others, a greater portion of the rent might be made dependent on the average price of those kinds. It is also quite as easy to make a part, or the whole, of the rent to depend on the average prices of beef, mutton, cheese, and butter. If a farm be wholly a grazing one, it will, upon an average of years, produce a certain number of pounds of beef and mutton per acre every year; and of course a certain portion of this will belong

to the owner of the farm as rent. Let him be paid the average price of that portion every year. The same principle may be adopted upon a dairy farm. I see no difficulty whatever in making the rent of a farm to vary every year, according to the average price of its produce, however great the variety of its produce may be. If there should be any injustice done to either owner or occupier, when the rent is made payable on the above principle, it will be when the contracting parties have not understood their business or not been honest, and have ignorantly or wilfully fixed that portion of produce as belonging to the owner at too much or too little. The rent paid may be too high or too low, whatever principle it be arranged by. If it be too high, a man is far better without a lease than with one. Of course, for a lease of 21 years, it is of great consequence that no miscalculation has been made at the first. To insure this, not only real practical men, but honest men, should be engaged.

In the August number of your magazine, there is an excellent letter from Mr. Tower to the Duke of Richmond, on the principle of a lease he made to a tenant of his, in Essex, for 21 years. The principle he adopted was a wrong one, although it was more favourable to the tenant than a fixed sum would have been. From the conduct of Mr. Tower, it is evident he had every desire to do strict justice to the tenant; for when he found, at the end of 13 years, that he had fixed the sum and the pivot too high, he lowered both. Now, upon a true principle of a corn-rent, there requires no pivot. There merely requires a certain portion of the produce to be charged to the farm, as due to the owner, he to be paid the value of that portion every year; this value to be the average price of such produce the preceding year, or the preceding three years, or seven years, as the parties can agree. I prefer three years to any other number. Mr. Tower and his tenant only took the average price of wheat, as their guide in payment of rent. This would apply to few farms in some counties. But to prove the erroneousness of their principle altogether, it is only to be seen that if wheat had averaged only 4s. per quarter, the rent would have been 1501.; while, in such a case, upon what I consider the true principle of a corn-rent, it would have been 321. In going through the figures, in your magazine, there appear to be mistakes in the calculations of the rent, if I understand them right, and which are against the landlord in the first part of the term, and the tenant in the latter part.

The farm is stated to be 480 acres, and worth 6001., with wheat at 68s. per quarter; the tenant to be allowed five per cent. for every 4s. when the price was below 64s., and to pay an advance of five per cent. for every 4s. when above 728. Now, 6001. is the value of 176 quarters of wheat, at 68s.; of course, 170 quarters is the corn-rent put upon the farm, according to Mr. Tower's principle. If the soil and the climate are not of the best, I should take ten per cent. off, to stand against bad seasons and other losses, making the corn-rent 158 quarters of wheat.

Below I have made a comparative statement of the rent actually paid for 21 years, with what the tenant should have paid according to Mr. Tower's principle, as I understand it; and also according to my principle. The result shows the difference between the amount paid, and what would have been paid, in 21 years, by the different principles.

A certain great writer, in your magazine, on political economy, of the Simon Grey school, says no rent can be paid with wheat at 47s. per quarter. According to such philosophers, no rent could have been paid in the years 1822, 1834, 1835, and very little in 1836. It never occurs to such men that a certain portion of the produce of a farm belongs to the owner, and, of course, the value of that portion, let it be little or much.

There is little difference between taking the average of one year and three years, but it makes the payments more equal, which I consider to be an advantage to both parties. Now, if the tenant had taken his farm at a fixed rent of 600l., he would have paid 12,6007. He paid 11,2801. He should have paid, according to my principle, 9,836., or 1,4491. less than he did pay. there can be no objection to my principle, except to the ten per cent. allowed for bad seasons and losses; this amounts to 6801. 14s., making still a difference of 7681. 6s. Except the farm be on a dry soil, ten per cent. is not a penny too much to allow for bad seasons, &c.

Now

With respect to leases, they should be made upon just and liberal principles. There should be no clauses inserted, but what a tenant can and ought to fulfil; no feudal restrictions, such as dog and cock clauses; no boon-work to perform; no cavalry man to be found, and horse to be kept; no particular restrictions as to rotation of crops, &c. The tenant must not be bound with his hands upon his back. The interest of the landowner can be perfectly secured, and a proper cultivation of the land ensured, without these restrictions. Generally, such clauses are drawn up by men who know nothing of agriculture practically.

In improving leascs, for a long term, the improvements to be made should be specified in the lease, in a plain, simple manner. When the tenant makes any permanent improvement not specified in the lease, he should be insured by a clause repayment, at the end of the term, of its value at that time.

Game is a sore question. Good cultivation cannot be expected, or a fair value for the land paid, if this be preserved to any great extent. No man can bear, with patience, to see his crops destroyed. It is said, the tenant has a remedy by demanding damages. The remedy, in nineteen cases out of twenty, would be as bad as the disease. Where game is preserved by the clause of a lease, where is the legal remedy then? Did any lease ever epecify what quantity should be kept? When the tenure is from year to year, and there is nothing agreed upon with respect to game, the tenant may legally claim damages; but in return he may get a notice to quit, and leave what improvements he has made in the land. Very often game is begun to be preserved after agreements or leases are entered into; and though clauses are, for this purpose, inserted, yet they are not expected to be acted upon by the tenant; who in some instances have been told so by the owner or agent of the property, as an inducement to take the land. I like to see some game upon the land, but not overrun with it, or even to be very numerous. I would not take a farm, upon any conditions, where a great quantity was kept. The quantity of produce consumed by it is not all the evil; sometimes a young and rising crop is destroyed by it.

A

To do strict justice to a tenant, all rates and taxes should be paid by the owner of the soil. farm should be let clear to the tenant. He is not the proper person to look after the business of the township, the church, or the county. This is the proper sphere of the owner of the soil. He has a permanent interest in them: the tenant has not. Generally, the owners of property have the management of these matters, and make the tenants pay the cost.

Suppose a tenant has a lease of a farm for 21 years, and before the expiration of it a considerable improvement is made in a road; a church rebuilt or greatly repaired, and perhaps the work done at an extravagant expense. Suppose great sums spent in repairing, rebuilding, or enlarging the county and hundred gaols. Suppose extensive damage done by riots at elections, or from other causes, either political or from the depression of the times. The rural police have been put upon the country without a single farthing being deducted, on that account, from the rent of a single tenant in the nation. This was downright injustice. In some townships the poor-rates have been nearly doubled by them. If the expense of them must have been paid direct from the pockets of the owners of property, they would never have been established. There never was a greater delusion than to suppose, that all these extra pulls for cash, in the shape of poor, church, highway, and county-rates, are paid by the landowners, no matter whether the tenants have leases or not. If, when an agreement was made from year to year, or when a lease was given, the amount of rates to be paid by the tenant was specified, then all would be fair, because whatever was demanded above that sum would have to be paid by the owner.

The Scotch farmer is exempt from any of these charges. He has his rent to pay, and nothing

more; of course, he perfectly understands what he will be called upon to pay every year. We are told to imitate them in our farming; let us imitate them in other matters, and we shall perhaps improve in our cultivation. Let not the means for improvement be taken from us, and then be charged with negligence.

I took a farm in 1813, for 14 years. The rates at that time were 4s. per acre, and had never been more. Before my term was out they amounted to 8s. per acre; and in two years, in a great depression in trade, they amounted to more than 12s. per acre, and the means reduced. Did my landlord pay any portion of this advance of rates? Had I taken my farm upon a corn rent, and had my rates and tithes paid by my landlord ; or, in short, been put upon the same footing as a Scotch farmer, I should have had a considerable sum less to pay than I did pay.

When the tenure of a farm is from year to year only, there should be an agreement between the parties that a fair valuation of the farm should be made at entry upon it; and that if an advance of rent should be demanded, or should the tenant have notice to quit, a valuation should again be made, and the difference paid by the owner, or rather the value of the improvements made; that is, in any case where the tenant had given notice of making the improvements, and had the owner's consent in writing. In cases where the tenant was impoverishing the farm, and had notice to quit on that account, the deterioration would have to be valued, and paid by the tenant to the owner.

But, to insure good cultivation, there is nothing like long leases, if they are made upon proper principles; only care should be taken to engage tenants who understood their business, and had sufficient capital to manage the farm in a proper manner. If the Reform Bill were reformed, and no tenant allowed to vote for a county member of Parliament except he had a real bona fide lease, for at least fourteen years, we should soon have more leases granted.

I am, Sir, your's respectfully,

W. ROTHWell.

FARMERS' CLUB HOUSE, 39, NEW BRIDGE STREET. On Monday, December 11, an extraordinary general meeting of the committee and members of the Farmers' Club, established for the use of farmers and others visiting London interested in the cultivation of the soil, and open to agriculturists and scientific men of all countries, was held at the house of the institution, Bridge street, Blackfriars-William Shaw, Esq., member of the council of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, presiding-when the following resolutions, relative to the internal arrangements of the club, with a view to the advantage of its members and the convenience of those foreigners and agriculturists from the provinces who visit the metropolis, were passed :-"1. That the number of the committee be increased to fortyone. 2. That the entrance fee be continued at one guinea. 3. That members elected in December pay subscription for the following year. 4. That gentlemen proposed as members, having obtained the recommendation of three members of the committee, be admitted to the privileges of the club from the time of their proposal, subject to their being elected at the next monthly meeting. 5. That in rule nine the words, Having previously obtained the consent of the committee,' shall stand Having previously obtained the consent of two members of the committee.'

better practice than that which you now pursue in laying down land to grass, whether permanently or otherwise; also what varieties of grain you ought to sow upon particular soils, &c. Chemistry will become to you an all but infallible guide in the application of lime, manures, &c., to the soil, and in determining your rotation of crops, so that you may know how to adapt the latter to the condition of the former: and geology will throw so much light upon that first of all improvements, draining, that men will no longer wonder why land should still be wet after it is filled full of shallow drains, as is frequently seen to be the case, for the cause will then be quite familiar to them.

I will now proceed at once to the question which I propose to discuss: viz., "What are the best means of making and of managing fold-yard manure ?"

First, I remark in general that the question of making the largest possible quantity of foldyard manure suggests to my mind several important considerations, which have a relative bearing upon it; among which I would mention the following, viz., first, whether or not the farmer has the requisite conveniences, in the shape of out-buildings and fold-yards, upon his farm; for if he have not, he assuredly will fall short of making what he otherwise might do. Secondly, it is impossible for the occupier of strong clay-land, or certainly other kinds that are very wet, to grow the necessary quantity of straw to enable him to make the largest possible quantity of manure upon his farm. To do this his land must be drained. Hence the absolute necessity of landlords undertaking at once to place their tenants in a favourable position as to these two points. But there are some men in the occupation of land, whose crops are, independently of either of the reasons that I have just supposed, uniformly, or at least comparatively bad. This is a state of things which should not exist anywhere. I presume not to dictate to others, nor would I make a single remark which can by possibility be construed as having a local, much less a personal, application; but I venture to assert that in the present enlightened and most trying period, when the necessity for employing the best methods is so urgentwhen the means of acquiring correct information are so accessible as to be at the door of every manand when examples of the effect of improved culti vation are actually within sight of all-no man is excusable-nay I will go further and say, no man ought to be permitted so to farm his land as to grow nothing but bad or middling crops.

His oc

cupation of land at all is injurious to his landlord, to himself, and to his own family, but above all to the general consumer. I would say to the landlord of such a person. "Weigh his case well; in which I include a thousand considerations which cannot be here enumerated; and if you cannot change his practice, change the man; place him in a more congenial position. Better far to pension him from the increased proceeds of the farm than to allow him to stand in the way of improve ment." To such a man farming his own land-and there are many such-I would say, "Let it, let it without delay." The man who is indebted to the accident of a favourable season for what good crops he gets, rather than to his own skill and good management, is not the man to make the largest quantity of manure upon the farm that he holds. Oh! no; the more probable effect of such management will be, that both the farm and the fariner will become poorer and poorer, each succeeding

year, until both are beggared. The deficiency in the manure heap of such a man as this, and the waste and destruction which will accrue from his management of what little he has, will tell a sad tale as respects his crops.

There are numerous ways of meeting this evil of bad crops; for an evil it is, whatever may be the cause from which it arises. If they are fairly attributable to the want of buildings or fold-yards of a suitable kind, the remedy is solely with the landlord as I have before said. If to the land not being drained, still, in my judgment, it is with the landlord. But where it arises from mistake or from limited means, motives of humanity would suggest the idea of taking away, at least for a time if not permanently, a portion of the land, assigning the true reason and I confidently avow my opinion to be this, that it would be a real act of kindness to such a person to do so. I have, indeed, known many a man who has been the tenant of a farm considerably too large for his capital, and who has, after a long and painful struggle against a stream too strong for him, finally sunk beneath the water; who would, if he had occupied say but half of it and adequately cultivated it, have lived in comparative comfort, and would have increased instead of having diminished his property. There is not so great an evil in farming, nor any one thing that operates so injuriously on the farmer himself, as niggardly cultivation. The experience of almost every one will have convinced him that twenty acres of land, thoroughly improved and well cultivated, will do much more for the occupier than will forty acres under a course of imperfect cultivation. In the other case, where means are not wanting, but the inclination or the skill, the obvious course is to take away not a part, but the whole, for such men are not fit to farm in the present day. The farmer of small capital will find it impossible to keep his place in society, if he persist in attempting, with the knowledge and practice of the last century, to supply the wants of this his occupation of land at all, operates injuriously in every way, upon the interests of society. On the other hand-to look upon a most pleasing picture-the man who improves his land to the greatest practicable extent is the greatest benefactor to his fellow-countrymen. He does

well for himself and his own family; he does well for his landlord; he does well for the industrious and generally thriving poor around him; and he does best of all for "the general consumer;" for he contributes far more to procure what is in the present day so clamorously called for-I mean cheap bread-than all the demagogues that have been hired and sent forth to misrepresent and abuse him.

And now, Sir Charles and gentlemen, having given you some notion of what I should expect as to produce from a good farmer, which you will perceive has a great deal to do with the size of the manure heap, I proceed to inquire what ought to be the course pursued by such an one with reference to the question before us; and, in doing so, I must be understood as addressing myself more particularly to such of you as are practical farmers, to whom, in plain intelligible language, I wish to make my appeals, and let them be weighed in the balances of your own practice, experience, and judgment.

Having accomplished that first great requisite for making an ample quantity of manure-the production of an abundant supply of the raw material (if I may so call it) on your farms-your next object will be "to tread down or otherwise consume