26. Fifth method. Renting, or letting out the land
Rich and intelligent cultivators, who saw to what perfection
an active and well directed cultivation, for which neither labour
nor expence was spared, would raise the fruitfulness of land,
judged with reason that they would gain more, if the proprietors
should consent to abandon, for a certain number of years, the
whole of the harvest, on condition of receiving annually a
certain revenue, and to be free of all expences of cultivation.
By that they would be assured that the increase of productions,
which their disbursements and their labour procured, would belong
entirely to themselves. The proprietor, on his side, would gain
thereby, 1st, a more tranquil enjoyment of his revenue, being
freed from the care of advances, and of keeping an account of the
produce; 2nd, a more equal enjoyment, since he would receive
every year the same and a more certain price for his farm:
because he would run no risk of losing his advances; and the
cattle and other effects with which the farmers had stocked it,
would become a security for his payment. On the other hand, the
lease being only for a small number of years, if his tenant paid
him too little, he could augment it at the expiration thereof.
