Land and Farming in Scotland.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 245, 10 March 1888, Page 5

Land and Farming in Scotland.

Is the course of an interesting article in the Scottish Mweio on "Landed Estate and Farming in Scotland," the writer says that between the years 1820 and 1840 there wasagreat'deptesaion in agricultural affairs, the prices of grain, dairy produce, and stock during thewhole oi that period remaining in a state of stagnation. In 1850, although proprietors had begun to take great" interest in the improvement of their estates, there was still great depression. , " The effects of, the repeal of the corn laws had begun to make themselves more keenly felt, and, from ,1849 to 1862 prices of nearly overy kind -vrer^ , low, rand rerits irx consequence were moderate. . A strong impulse towards the improvement of lana had, however, been given' by 'the Government loan of a large suni for, works of drainage. . Scotch proprietors in' general, ancj perhaps more. particularly those of the south-west, were not slow 'Vto- stake -advantage. vJ?othito proprietors N ';and tenants th,e mPJ^ey was .advanced -without'difficulty atfilM. with- '" very ' ,littje , the proprietor having jtr4n hlaapoxVei* to make an application.,, personally .without,., the, ! intje'rveniiojn 6^,, an ag^e,pt, w.^enca-pro-visional'certificate was issued^,'. andhe the« carried o .t^tj^vorjc at t h^s ,own,,hfcndf Object to ii]|spection, by, a pcactical^man appointed by the 4 Lands- Conjiipi^ni hU 1 seems right to mention, jh* * t the^ period | df vfhi6)i we are.no'^i flieikinK'the t.oisiQm ire'fifc, W ttiolaa.ifttfr%i V pr^jje^hfo which varied according to the* value of grain and dairy produce. A considerable

number of the best farms were let for a pnyment of so many bolls of wheat and so much money, a system which is not at all peculiar to fcho south-west of Scotland. What probably wan peculiar was the system of making the rent dependant, to some extent, on the price of cheese and butter, as there were no public averages to bo obtained of the value of these commodities. On one large estate in Ayrshire with which fcho writer is intimately acquainted, the pystein followed was to convent the money rent into a produce rent, composed of onehalf cheese taken at an average of 9s per stone of 241b., or, in other words, 4£d per lb ; one-four) h meal, taken on an average of 15s per boll ; and ono fourth money. Thus a tenant, in making a bargain for a farm of the value of, say, .CICO a year, had tho option of taking it either at that sum, or of a produce rent of 100 stones of cheese, 35 b'»lls of meat, and .€3O of money. It was stipulated that thochee-e should vary only ivom 8s to 10rf per stone, or irom 4d to 5d per lb, which was probably rather a low range of variation, and the meal was to be taken accotding to tho liars prices, but nob to be less tha:i 12s nor mox - e than 18s per boll. On some other estates, in the neighbourhood of Paisley, the lent was in a meaeuro fixed by the pi ices of butter, and the custom was to obtain a rotuui from a few of the shopkeepers in tho town. On other properties, again, the rent was fixed according to the principle of 'upholding' — that is to say, when a bargain was made ior a farm, «ay, for example, of £100 a year, it was stipu ated that that rent should be payable only so long as the price of cheos-o was not under 5d per pound, and that if it fe ! l to be lower, the tenant s-hould leqeivea conesponding i eduction. These arrangements, however, now that there is a feeling abroad in favour of reverting to £ome buch sy&tvm, are all of conpiderable interest. It may be noted, however, that those fanners who adopted the money rent at the time referred to had very much tho beßfc of the bargain, and that the greater number who selected the produce rent found the lesult ultimately disadvantageous. Although it still exists upon some estates, this system of produce rent has to a very considerable extent died out, the farmers having come to the conclusion that it is better to adopt a °tated, or, to call it by its old fashioned name, a 'christened ' rent rather than to run chance of tho rise and fall of the markets The period of which we have just spoken —from 1850 to 1860 -was in the main characterised by a great increase in the. value of laud, owing in no small degree to the demand for farms caused by the Crimean War. During the middle portion of it, grain farms were in good demand, good prices ■were obtainable, the seasons were favouiable and in the present 'writer s opinion there has been in the best no better time ior letting the ordinary class of farms."