tom has ever sanctioned; labour performed, fallowing, and the value of hay never can be omitted; all others may be dispensed with, if we would allow no valuation where a crop has been got, as has been done in many parts of the kingdom. But if custom must prevail, no impediment is offered to its continuance by the plan above proposed.

III.

AGREEMENTS.

THE articles of agreement by which a farm of land is held, express the obligations entered into by the contracting parties, with the terms of entry and of expiry, and the amount of the profits the owner will derive from such a use of his property. Such contracts should be plain and simply worded, and the terms as few as possible, easily understood and complied with, and wholly free from the technical obscurities of legal phraseology, which never fail to fetter and encumber the farmer with confused and objectionable clauses, render the whole deed perplexed and contradictory, and the fruitful source of litigation. A very general error lies in vain attempts to provide against every possible contingency, which it is impossible to do, both from the

nature of the transaction and from the unforeseen events to which it may give rise. An agreement should stipulate rather what a farmer is not to do than what he is to perform; for as it cannot in every case compel good farming, it may yet prevent much that is bad much skill and experience are required in laying down such stipulations, especially as to cropping the land, for the judgment and enterprise of the farmer must not be restricted, and at the same time care must be used that the property sustain no damage, especially during the latter years of the lease. An intimate acquaintance with the practice and details of agriculture is essentially necessary to enable any person to prescribe the conditions of cultivation, and it is in vain for any one ignorant of such matters to fancy to himself that he can draw an agreement with proper and wholesome restrictions. Any tendency to legal disputes must be cautiously avoided; and on the simple maxim

that "conventio vincit legem," it is an easy

matter for any person who is thoroughly acquainted with the business by education. and by profession to express an agreement ⚫ that shall contain the necessary stipulations and conditions with strict justice to both parties, and without any grounds for cavil and dispute on either side.

A holding at will or by lease differs little in point of the agreement, except in the circumstance of removal at six months' notice before the expiring of the year. In all holdings the landowner warrants the free and undisturbed possession and use of the lands, houses, yards, and gardens mentioned in the agreement for the time specified, and from the time of entry, whatever time of the year it may be. The proprietor puts all the houses, gates, fences, and ditches into proper repair, and the tenant is understood to accept of them by taking possession, and the landlord reserves the right of shooting and coursing over the lands;

of cutting and carrying away any timber growing on the farm, of examining the buildings, and of digging and carrying away any minerals which are expressly reserved. for the landlord; a compensation being made to the tenant for any damage done to the soil or fences in carrying away such timber or minerals, by the valuation of men mutually chosen. On the other side, the tenant binds and obliges himself, his heirs and executors, to fulfil the conditions of the agreement with good faith, to pay the sum of money stipulated as a rent, in equal halves, at the terms mentioned in the lease, and to pay all taxes and assessments, with the exception of the land-tax. The system of cultivation is understood to be the most approved for the soil and locality, with liberty to improve on it, but not to adopt a more scourging rotation; and the taking of two white or grain crops in succession is absolutely and expressly prohibited, and also the selling of hay or straw from the

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