Chap. XVII. Appendix.

395

In place of each tenant having a house on a distinct farm, agroup of little huts are huddled together, like a rustic village.In this a number of tenants and cottagers reside. The landaround them is also held in common by them all. The pastureland is the common field where all their cattle browse. The ara-ble land is sometimes cultivated and cropped in common also,and the produce divided among them.

This is one of the most ancient customs in our country. It isa relic of the pastoral age, or feudal system. But it is ruinousto the interest of the landlord, the tenant, and the public, in thepresent enlightened state of agriculture.

Where lands are not possessed in Townships, they are too ge-nerally so in

Run-rig.

This mode of occupying land, originated from the same source.It is the natural result, and doubtless was meant as an improve-ment of the former plan. In place of the arable land being pos-sessed, cultivated, and cropped, as a common field, each has a lotor strip allotted to him. Sometimes, in place of one, he has two,or more, especially if that arable land be of unequal value. Inthis case, he has a strip of the best in one part, and of the worstin another.

In the feudal age, this species of holding prevailed over agreat part of Britain, perhaps of Europe . Csesar mentions, thatit was the customary practice among the ancient Gauls ; and for-merly it was attended with obvious advantages to all parties.To the landlord : for, by having his tenants and retainers thuscrowded together in clusters, they were ready at his call to de-fend his person or property, on every emergency. From similarmotives, many of the noblemen in England, Scotland, and Ire-land , have their residence still in the vicinity, and sometimes inthe middle, of a village ; especially in Ireland . To the tenantsthemselves: for each was provided with pasture for his cattle,and a part of a farm for a crop of grain. And before land wasenclosed, the possession of each was secured, by being intermix-ed with that of his neighbour. For it became equally the inte-rest of all, to protect all. But now that every man, from thepeer to the peasant, is under the protection of equitable laws,and that arable land is enclosed, cultivated, and cropped, in amanner, by which it becomes tenfold more productive, such prac-tices are not only unnecessary, but destructive, proving a ruin-ous bar to every species of agricultural improvement. Yet theystill prevail over too great a portion of the Highlands and He-brides .

Owing to the poverty of the farmers, in some places,

Steel-loiv still prevails.

This is a species of subset of a farm, which is practised by either