the utmost, improve the farm, and even secure a competent independence. High rents have been reckoned to stimulate the farmer; but a medium must be observed, and the extreme avoided; for, if exorbitantly high, they act as an effectual discouragement, for no man will continue with energy in attempting what he is fully convinced by experience he cannot effect. Such a state of excessive rents is much to be deprecated: it reduces the capital of the farmer, induces him to scourge and exhaust the land, and renders him unsettled, and anxious to remove at the first opportunity. The farm is impoverished, and cannot be let at a fair value, and it must either be improved at the owner's cost or be let at a reduced rent; and, in such cases, both the landowners and the farmers are greater losers, both in profit and in credit, than if a moderate rent had been taken.

The plan adopted by some landlords, of letting their estates to value by the pound,

is a strong temptation held out to the valuer to lay on more rent than can be raised by the farmer. When such methods are practised, they invariably lead to bad results. The farmer, who has probably been born and bred on the spot, is unwilling to leave it : he overcrops the land, exhausts his capital, and both interests suffer in the extreme. Most landlords are feeling enough to be very willing to allow the farmer a fair remuneration for his labour, if it can be ascertained with any degree of truth. This, it is presumed, may be obtained by estimating the expenses incurred, and the profits arising during the whole course of one rotation of crops on different soils. Few valuers are at the trouble of fixing the rent after this method, but more frequently judge by comparing it with the adjoining land, or by the common rate of the neighbourhood. For this purpose, a valuer should be a person of clear understanding, liberal education, and of the strictest integrity; capable; from

general practice, of examining thoroughly, and of calculating correctly, the expenses and profits of all the different operations performed upon land. The state of the markets, the rise and fall in the price of each article of produce, must constantly engage his attention; and, in making valuations in conjunction with another, he must be able to support his opinions clearly and forcibly, and be ready in detecting and refuting any incorrect insinuations advanced by his opponent.

One way of calculating the rent of land is to value the gross produce of the farm in one year for the farmer's benefit, in corn, hay, grass, turnips, and every thing it is capable of producing. The sum is divided. into three parts: one third is allowed for general expenses of farming, another for the maintenance of the farmer's household and profit on capital, and the remaining part is reserved for rent, including taxes, tithes, and assessments. This is a ready way

of

ascertaining rent, and may in some instances. approach very near the truth; but localities differ so much that, in many cases, especially where grass lands prevail, it would lead to very erroneous results. It has been often observed, that the difference made in the rent of rich light soils and of clays is seldom in the full proportion of their relative value; for, if the expences and profits of each were fairly calculated, it will be found that the former will bear nearly twice as much rent as the latter; and, when land varies much in quality, the difference is still greater.

The above mode was generally used in apportioning rents previous to the introduction of improved cultivation, in better implements, clovers and turnips. In those times labour was more tedious, and there was much less disposable produce; rents were also paid partly in money, and partly in service and in kind; but, as the circulating medium became more plentiful, these

payments were gradually abolished, and money rents now almost universally prevail. The surplus produce of farms, after deducting the expenses of cultivation, is the proper subject on which to calculate rent. A portion of this surplus is due to the farmer, as a remuneration for the use of his capital employed, and for his personal attention, and the remainder shows the rent due to the landlord, taxes included. In making such calculations, we are led into many in tricate and difficult statements, the items of which are numerous and ever varying. The profits of rearing and feeding stock are not so regular as the production of corn; and it is customary to avoid computing the profits of stock in ascertaining the rent, and to value the land on which they are fed, comparing the quality of the soil with that of the fields under a regular course of cultivation. Dairy farms, that are nearly or wholly in grass, are valued by the number of stock they will keep, and by the