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whose ideas on the subject of manuring arc Lamentably deficient? What of the men who use briars and old carts for gates, have no earthly objection to tumble-down fences, and appear to have an affection for thistles? Would fixity of tenure, or a rental at the rate of five or ten shillings an acre, lead to the uprooting of a single ragweed?
And yet we are hearty advocates for tenant right. Tenant right—Yes! but of what nature? The right of the tenant to have secured to him, in some shape or form, the value of his real improvements, such as are necessary to good husbandry, and proportionate to the size of his holding. We do not agree with those who say that legal security is not needed, for that landlords are really to be trusted, whatever agitators may say. If we were to lend a hundred pounds to our dearest friend we should like to have his " handwriting" for it; "in case of accident." We must be business-like even with those whom we trust; and it is very unbusiness-like for one man to lay out, or to be expected to lay out, time and labour in the improvement of another man's land without even "the stroke of a pen" to secure to him or his heirs the value of what he has done.
The right, then, to such security as this is one which should be demanded as a charter right: it is a right to which the British Constitution entitles the farmer—whether he can afford to dispense with it or not—and the deprival of which is an infringement of that Constitution!
But "who is to decide what are real improvements?" is the instant question. Here comes the rub! And how is the backward farmer, whom we have just been describing, to be enabled to make sue improvements? This is another rub! These two, in fact, are the questions which have puzzled statesmen for years. Shall we strive to answer these questions? Shall we endeavour to point out how arbitrators should be appointed by Government, as though landlords were opponents to their own and their tenants' advantage; or how State agriculturists should be appointed, as though landlords neglected the improvement of their tenants in agricultural skill?
Let us rather turn aside for a while, and let us dream a dream! Theorists and visionaries are generally run down in this world; but unless dreams are first dreamed and theories framed, many things which need reformation will never be reformed. The architect fashions in his mind the plan of the building which he is commissioned to erect; he dreams in day-dreams of tasteful outlines and commodious combinations of apartments; then he sketches them on paper, changing, and altering, and amending, till he gets his perfect plan; then that plan is drawn out with care,
