INTRODUCTION.

XVU

where there is a want of permanent fecurity for the enjoyment of thofe advantagesthat may be derived from them.

It has been jultly remarked by Mr. Donaldfon, that “ that man would certainlybcjuftly fubjeCted to the reproach of being rafh and incontiderate in his conduct,who fhould expend money and labour on the improvement of any farm, where hiscertainty of continuance does not entitle him to look forward with a confidentaffurance to the period when his exertions are to be rewarded. It is a well-knownfaCi, that the hope of reward fvveetens labour; take that away, and the fpur tolabour ceafes. It is that alone that calls forth induftry, and is the fpring of all ex-ertion. What objcCi then can a farmer have to hazard his capital, and devotethe moft vigorous and aClive part of his life to the improvement of a farm whichhe holds on no more certain tenure than the will, or, in other words, than the whimor caprice of his landlord ? In every fuch fituation, the prudent farmer muft berefrained from any fpirited expenditure, nou'ever much he may be fatisfied that theimprovements, which might thereby be effected, w'ould, under other circumftances,prove beneficial to the public, the landlord, and himfelf. Have not inftances oc-curred, where tenants to circumftanced have been obliged repeatedly to agree topay advances of rent rather than remove; while, from the uncertainty of thetenure on which they held their farms, they were debarred from making thofe ex-ertions which an advance of rent demanded, and which almotl uniformly takesplace in fuch cafes when leafes are granted ?”

From an examination of the excellent furveysthat have lately been made of theagricultural fate of the kingdom under the direction of the Board, it appears thatby far the greateft part of the land in many counties is held by tenants merely atthe will of their landlords, who of courfe may deprive them of their farms, on propernotice being given, whenever they pleafe ; and in cafes where leafes are grantedthey do not extend further than from five to nine years, except in a very few in-*fiances indeed, in which they may be protracted to the period of nineteen or eventwenty-one. And even fuch leafes as thofe are for the moft part clogged withfuch reftriCtive claufes and conditions as put a ftop to improvement, and confine thecultivator in methods of management that are frequently far from being the moftadvantageous*.

In the firft cafe, indeed, the farmer is kept in fuch a ftate of dependence as is notonly highly degrading, but muft effectually damp and reprefs his exertion and in-duftry. And the tenants under fhort leafes are not in fituations much moredefirable, as they cannot with fafety or propriety enter into any extenfive beneficial

* Modern Agriculture, Vot. IV.

* a