No farmer can pay the present rents, taxes, and expence of labour, if wheat is below 90 s. per quarter. It has indeed averaged more for the last nine years; but then a farmer is not justified in turning away his sheep and oxen, and breaking up fine pastures, unless he is assured that it will be steadily as high, which it will not be under the present laws, if there is a succession of only average crops. The high prices of the last five years, have been entirely owing to bad crops, and to our inability to pay for foreign grain, more especially since the year 1810. It is a singular circumstance, indeed, that the scarcity of bullion, and the unfavourable rate of exchange, have thus indirectly contributed to the advantage of the British farmer. It is to be hoped, however, that every difficulty on this head, will be obviated, by the new corn system to be proposed in the course of the ensuing session of parliament. Such statements as these above inserted,* sanctioned by the authority of intelligent practical farmers, must throw great light on the important question of the produce and imported, forms, in general, but a very inconsiderable proportion of the grain necessary for the consumption of the inhabitants of the country, even in bread, independent of the consumption in beer, in spirits, in feeding cattle, &c. On the other hand, it is contended, that the consequence of these importations is, to reduce the price of British grain much lower than in the proportion which they may bear to the whole consumption. Such are the effects of even a slight variation of the usual state of supply and demand for any article. It may be proper to add, that had it not been for the great improvements which have taken place in agriculture, we could never have fed such an increasing population, so amply, without tenfold additional importation. * Many farmers in Scotland, more especially those who cultivate a great extent of land, keep regular accounts; but the practice is not so general as it ought to be. Every farmer should annually make up such a statement as Mr Rennie has given. the expence of farming; also on the rent that land should yield, and the profit to which the farmer is entitled. They are certainly too high for any farm that is not situated in the most fertile districts of Scotland, for it is difficult any where else to get such an extent of land, as from 400 to 500 acres, of equal fertility, and without any muir or bog, or any other sort of inferior land, being intermix ed with it. SECT. III.-On the Proportion of Produce to be exacted as Rent, and on the Mode of Payment. It has been already observed, that it is essentially necessary to exact a fair, but not an oppressive rent, from the tenant;* such a sum as will have the effect of exciting him to activity and exertion. Without dwelling on the high rents exacted for lands in the neighbourhood of large towns, which are no precedent in other cases, it is proposed to consider, what sum may be fairly demanded for land, under a regular system of arable or convertible husbandry. Before entering, however, into any detail, it may be pro * Mr Wilson of Simprin, near Dunse, observes, that no man can do good as a farmer, who is borne down by being over-rented, or over-taxed; and that these burdens are worse than even a want of capital, for if land is taken worth the money, a careful and industrious farmer will get friends to assist him. per to observe, that though the rent paid by the tenant is in general no bad criterion of his skill and industry, yet, at the same time, much must depend, on a variety of other circumstances; as, 1. The soil of the farm, and the means of remedying its defects;* 2. The subsoil, a point of much more importance than is commonly imagined;† 3. The climate; 4. The situation as to markets; 5. The vicinity to coal and to lime, or other extraneous manures; 6. The means of conveying the produce of the farm, (for good roads make an essential difference in the value of a farm); 7. The size of the farm itself; 8. The position and construction of the house and offices; 9. The length of lease; 10. The covenants; 11. The encouragement given to improvement; and, 12. The amount of other payments, besides the rent, to which the tenant is liable. Every farmer, before he engages in a new lease, ought to take all these, among a variety of other circumstances, into his consideration. On the subject of rent in general, there are two points which require peculiar consideration: 1. What proportion of the produce should be paid to the landlord; and, 2. Whether it should be paid in money, or in kind, or partly in both. The following are the particulars of the rent paid for a farm amounting to 280 Scotch, or 350 English acres : Clays are improved by a mixture of sand, and sandy soils by clay, which are frequently at no great distance from each other. + Mr Robertson of Ladykirk observes, that the subsoil of a farm should even be more attended to than the soil. It seldom happens, in a good climate, that the land is unproductive, when the subsoil is dry and good. It is wonderful what even a thin soil will do, when full of manure, if it rests on a sound subsoil. 1. Money rent, L4 15 0 2. Half a boll of wheat, (2 Winchester bushels) averaged at 40s. per boll, or 10s. per bushel, 100 3. Half a boll of barley, (2 Winchester bushels) averaged at 30s. per boll, Total per Scotch acre, Which is equal to L. 5: 2: 3 per English acre. 0 15 0 L.6 10 0 This farm, however, is situated in the Carse of Gowrie, which is certainly one of the most fertile districts in Scotland: It is not far distant from the Frith of Tay, a navigable arm of the sea, by which lime may be imported, and the produce of the farm exported, with great facility: The climate of the Carse also, as well as the soil, is uncommonly well calculated for arable cultivation, and less liable, than almost any part of the kingdom, to any agricultural disaster. There is an instance of a still higher rent in East Lothian, amounting to L. 1710 per annum, for only 240 Scotch, or 288 English acres. This is at the rate of L. 7:26 per Scotch, or L. 5, 14 s. per English acre. The total annual produce cannot be estimated at more than L.3200, which would be at the rate of L. 13: 6: 8 per Scotch, or L. 10: 13: 4 per English acre. These rents totally destroy the old maxim, that every arable farm ought to produce three rents, one for the landlord, one for the expence of cultivation, and one for the maintenance of the farmer.* It might be founded in truth, when first thought of; but since the introduction of • It was an old Scotch adage, “Ane to saw, ane to chaw, and ane to pay the laird with a'." two-horse ploughs, and threshing-machines, it has not the slightest affinity to the situation of the farmer. Besides, since roads and markets have been so much improved, the sale of every article more certain, the number of horses and servants necessary for an arable farm so much reduced, and every branch of agriculture so much better understood, the landlord is entitled, at least in fertile districts, to a larger proportion of the produce. What proportion of the produce of arable land, ought to be paid as rent to the landlord, is a question that has long been considered as abstruse, mysterious, and very difficult to resolve. In the year 1753, it was recommended to the attention of the public, by the Edinburgh Society for the Improvement of Agriculture, but no person ventured to discuss it, in consequence of that recommendation, until after the lapse of twenty years, when the late Alexander Wedderburn of St Germains, father of the celebrated Chancellor Wedderburn, Earl of Rosslyn, published his essay on that subject, in the year 1766. In that work, Mr Wedderburn justly observes, that no blind bargain ought to be concluded between the landlord and tenant, for there are rules and principles, by the fair application of which, the rent that ought to be justly demanded for arable land, may be ascertained with tolerable precision. It is a bad system, he remarks, when parties, whose interests are so clearly interwoven together, meet rather like enemies than friends: the natural consequence of which is, that he who is most skilful in the arts of deceit, obtains a disgraceful victory. As a foundation for a proper system on this subject, Mr Wedderburn contended, that land producing on an average 8 bolls of wheat, 3 of peas, 63 of barley, and 4 of oats, or at the rate of 5 bolls per Scotch acre overhead, together with 165 stones of hay, might be considered as a standard; the va |