Leasing Farm Property

Mant eomplaints are constantly mado about the raanner of leasing farms in Graat Britain and Ireland, but the practiee which pre.vails in most portions of this coiinty is infinitely worse in every respect. It is demoiuliz'veg to the tenant, unprolitable to the landlord and absolutely ruinous to the land. In tíreat Britain and Ireland leases ordinarily run from fonrteen to thirty years, and they stipulate not only wtiat crops shU be raised each yea'r, but the amount and kind of iViiilizr-rs tliat shall be applied to the land, as well as the kind and number of head of stock tliat shall be kept No one can tead an English lease without being impressed with the fact that tlie most strmgeat clauses pertain to keepin": up the fertility of J the soil, or rendenng' it even more productivo. The landlord appears to care le.ss about obtaining a high rate of interest on his ca])it:vl th:m ot' koeping his capital intact or of hicreasing it. This systcni of leasing seems to attach tenants to the place they occupy, partly beoanse they have become accustomed to thora, and partly for the reason that they are Bètter at the expiration than at the commeneement of their terms of occupancy. The conseqnnnce is that re-leasing is the rule raihcr than t!ie éxception, and that many farms remain in the same famies during sevteral generations. A tenant who leases land lor a term of thirty years with the privilege of renewal can afford to erect buildings for the shelter of animáis, to make drains, dijï wells, set out vin es and fruit trees and to beautify grounds. As he is to be a resident of the neighborhood during at least half the yeara of his active life, he will Cake an interest in local affairs and have an incentive for establisliing the repuíation of au liouest man and a arood citizen. In this country fárming land is leased " on shai'es," or for a stated amount of money or producís. Leases are rarely made for a longer period tlian tbreo yeare, and in the west more farms are rented for a single year than for a term of years. It isunusual to find any stipu[ation in a lease about the crops that shall or shall not be raised, about the general course of cultivation, the applicatiou of fcrtilizers or the arnmint of stock that shall be kept on a place. The tenant, is allcoKed to do as he picases with the premises he leases or 10 ao nothing except to occupy them. The landlord requires nothing of him except to pay. his rent in money or produce, and to vaeate the premises at the expiration of his lease. In many cases he has nothing wherewith to pay, and in other cases he "skips out" in advance of the time nominated in his lease. In a large proportion of instances the tenant is anxious to leave and the landlord is still more anxious for him to go. The relations ixUween laiuüord aml tenant are no more pleasant in thi; eountry than in Ireland, though, on ae count of the comparatively small cla, of each, the complaints are less general Tenants here complain of the landowners if they attempt to collect ful. rent at the close of a poor season, and tlv latter generally unite in giving the farmer 41 bad name f or indnstry, honestj and fair dealing. Our whole manner o1 leasing farms tends to attract a shiftless set of persons to apply for land, and to make them still more shiftless alter they have come in possession of it. 'Diere is absolutely no incentive foi them to practice good husbandry beyond what is required to produce a erop for the present season. They know there is a certain amount of fertility in the land they have leased out, and it satislies their purpose to exhaust it as soon as possible. As the crops are theirs and the soil their lam Uords', their study is to produce the one at the expenso of the other. The tenant who leases farm property from year to year can not be relied upon to take proper care of growiug forest, fruit or ornamental trees, shrubs, vines and bushes, or to pay proper attention to permanent pastures and meadows. As to live stock, few landlords will intrust it to ordinary tenants. The tenants theniselves are genei'ally too poor to own many animáis, and the consequences are that little stock is kept, and the crops raised are disposed of in the market. liy tiiis nieans little mamare is produced, wliile neither the landlord nor the tenant tliiuks it will be a profitable in. cstiiiciit for him to purchase lèrtilizérs and (o apply them tuthe soil. As a consequence, the fertility of the soil is gradually exhausted, till at length the period is reachedwhen paying crops can not be produced. A different kind of husbandry will then be required, or the ground must be left to regain fertility throUgh natural agencies. A farm that has been leasod for a series of years to tenants wlio oeeupy it for only a short time eau be distingnished at a single glanee. The buildings are in bad eondition, the fences afford poor proteel ion against stock, the' trees in the orehard Bhow 1 hat they have received no attemion, vvhile the vines and bushes that shouUl produce large crops of fruit are nearly covered by grass and weeds. There are no outlets for water except gullies. Only a smal] proportion of the land is in grass. The larger portion of it lias been devoted to raising corn and small graius for so long a time that it refuses to produce thetn in paying quantities. The only large erop to be Been is one of weeds The appearance of the entire place is a protest against our present system of leasing farm property. - Chicago Times. ■-♦ Sow the grass seed on the wet ground at any time of the year that is oonvenient, il does not much matter when. Red clover wants to be sown in early spring; but timothy, red top, blue grass, traite clover, tawn, orehard grasa can lianllv be sown amias. The land really shouid be pastured when the seed is sown. Hogs, nowever, are bad 011 all sucli land the iirst year unless the pasture is very large and the number of hogs small.-