AN ENGLISHMAN'S VIEW OF SCOTCH FARMING.

Otago Witness, Issue 567, 11 October 1862, Page 6

AN ENGLISHMAN'S VIEW OF SCOTCH FARMING.

(From the York Herald.)

We so frequently hear of the farming of Scotland spoken of as being superior to that of England, and the rents that Scotch farmer's pay as so much higher, that I was glad of the opportunity a recent visit to Scotland gave me to observe for myself how far this is the case ; for I must confess to sharing the English prejudice against Scotch practice as seen in England, and and could not understand how fanners could afford to pay higher rents in Scotland, seeing that the advantage of better climate and markets lay with England ; but since my inspection of Scotland I must admit that there is much truth in what is said of its farming, for I found it more uniformly good, and the rents, after every allowance for lesser parochial charges, decidsdly higher than in England. My first impression on seeing Scotland was, that most of its cultivated land must have been newly enclosed, and farmers were benefiting by modern buildings, large open fields, und straight fences ; for I saw they have little to contend with from old buildings, or the waste from useless hedges, hedge-row timber, and incgular enclosures. The houses are better suited to a higher class of capitalists than are usually found tin similar holdings in England, and the homesteads are more commodious, better arranged, and with larger amount of accommodation for stock, und are altogether more suited for what is called high farming. Few firms over 200 acres of ploughed land are without steam or water power and fixed rnachiney for threshing, &c, or with- | out lodging for the laboiers employed on the farm ; and the practice of giving more cottages for families with the farms is increasing. I could see greater activity in the horses and laborers, and more system in the management, much of which I attribute to the greater command of labor the farmers have in their own resident laborers. On referring to my note-book I see that farms are customarily let on leases of 19 or 21 years, without a break in the period, and fresh terms are generally made on every renewal, when the reletting becomes a matter of fresh bargaining. I was shown a farm 11 miles from a large market, where much of the produce comes to England, which had been re-let last year at £5 per Scotch acre, the former rent having been 455. The adjoining farm of 350 acres is let at 385., having been taken for 19 years, in a period of great agricultural depression, and when much out of order and wanting draining. The new tenant commenced with tile-draining the whole at a cost of £3 an acre, and when telling me of this large outlay on improvement spoke of it as having answered, and appeared to think it a matter of course that his landlord should take advantage of the improved value of the farm to raise the rent when his lease should be out. From this it will he seen that the break of tenure on the expiration of the lease is considered to terminate tho former bargain, and periodically brings a re-arrangement, often leading to a wholesome change of occupancy, an increase of rent, and a fresh start in improvement. The landowner taking advantage of the improvement since the last letting to benefit liis income, and the tenant of his fresh interest in the farm to commence new improvements, the advantage of which is so long secured to him. I may be told by English farmers that such a practice can answer only with landowners, and must he injurious to tenant-farmers ; but surely it will be seen, were thi3 so, that agriculture would soon cease to flourish. The prosperity of tenants and landowners must ever be bound up together ; and that this is so, and the system works well, is seen in the superior condition of Scotch farms, and the higher rents they command. Ido not mean to infer from this that we have not as good farming in England as any I saw in Scotland ; I should be wrong in doing so, for I saw little in the practice in Scotland that the higher class of English farmers would copy ; but I must admit that the general practice in Scotland is more uniformly good, and one sees far less bad farming there than in England.

If I have done justice to my subject, many of your readers, knowing the prejudices of English landowners in favor of annual tenantries, small enclosures, broad hedges, and hedge-row timber, and. against giving farmers cottages for their laborers, and how often English farms are badly provided with buildings, will see sufficient in all this for the more uniformly good farming of ycotland and the higher rents the tenants afford to pay. No doubt much of the mischief in England arises from the old feudal feeling still existing against giving tenant-farmers the independence of long leases, and to the law of settlement, which made cottages a bugbear to landowners from the fear of bringing more paupers on the parish. But I trust this is wearing away, and that landowners are learning their farms cannot be well cultivated without a command of home labor, and farmers are getting alive to the advantages of having their principal laborers resident on their unns. But long leases are still wanted to bring improving teaante. Without their security far-

| mc;s will not i-ive-st capital in improvements and I hi^ii farming, the returns of which arc only reaped in a co-irse of years. Xor will they fee! the o.ill j upon them for impiovements which the certainty of long possession and lived tenure makes. As annual tenant-fanner 3 will look to the return of the year to repay them for their year's expenditure ; and while this is so, land will have its fertility only partially developed, and both landowners and tenants must bu contented with only partial returns.

rlr.wn-T Davis.