against the extremes of both cases. In other instances, a part only of the rent is payable in grain, regulated by the average price; which arrangement leaves a part of the rent fixed, and both parties bear a share of the gain or loss arising from the fluctuations in the other part. The following scale is constructed on the principle of the foregoing, taking 7s. as the average price of wheat, when the rent is charged in full, which average is calculated from the returns of the Board of Trade, as and reckoning the present year, 1839, as one at the high average of 70s. under; The low averages of the three years, 1834, 1835, and 1836, have much depressed the general average; had they stood at 60s., an average of 88. per bushel would have been the result. But as low averages may soon return, 7s. per bushel is here used. On a farm of 400 acres, suppose the rent is 500l. a year, exclusive of taxes, and that 80 acres are yearly sown with wheat, and produce 320 quarters of grain, 280 of which may be sold if prices rise 8s. per quarter, the farmer will gain 1127., or about 5s. per acre; if it rises 3s. a bushel, he will gain 3361., or about 16s. an acre; and would be startled to find his rent nearly doubled by the average of wheat rising from 48s. to 72s. On a poor clay farm of the same size, producing 20 bushels an acre, about 200 quarters will be grown, 160 of which may be sold. If an advance of 8s. a quarter happen, the farmer will gain 647., or about 3s. per acre; if the average rise 24s., he will gain 1927., and find his rent increased by two thirds. The first table is formed on the extreme case, and allows the full benefit of the rise or fall to the respective party; the latter follows a middle course, and gives a share only of the rise or fall to each party, and a chance of profiting something from the course of events. The sum of 8l. for every 100%. of rent is allowed for a fall of 1s. per bushel below 7s., which is 401., allowed by the landlord to place against the 1127. the farmer had lost; and if a rise of 1s. take place, the farmer pays 40l. out of The the 1127. he has gained. And in the second place, on a rent of 300l. a year, the sum of 247. is granted to set against the loss or gain of 647. In the case of a rise or fall of 3s. a bushel, the sums of 120l. and 721. are paid or withheld by either party towards the sums lost or gained. variations in this scale may be thought too low; but after a rent has been fixed upon a fair average, a table may be constructed on the same principle to suit almost any locality, and may be useful for the purpose of adjusting rents according to existing circumstances, if the parties concerned be so inclined. In fixing the rents of poor and of fertile soils, the value of the produce of each must be borne in mind, as well as the quantity. The expenses of cultivating them do not vary much; but the value of the produce is often very different, which, together with the smaller quantity, constitutes the difference to be made in the rent. VII. EXPENSE OF CULTIVATING CLAY SOILS THE rent of clay soils, such as those fields numbered 12 and 13 in the plan, must be ascertained by the same method as that of fine soils, in order that a comparison may be made whereby the value of the intermediate qualities may be fixed. This kind of land is supposed to be cropped in the common course of husbandry practised on strong soils; viz. first year fallow, second wheat, third clover or beans, fourth oats; and sometimes fifth beans, and sixth wheat. The course of four years is taken as the most convenient for computation. An opinion has been often advanced by theoretical writers, that summer fallowing may be dispensed with, by adopting the cultivation of green crops by the drill sys |
