[7| 69m]

adding it to his farming. flock, although the terms.of his leaſe may. be exceedingly favourable, and the endurance of it ever, ſo long, he feels a. timidity. or want of. enterpriſe, which prevents him from expending his money in the pur- chaſe of manure, or other means of improvement, and en- quires, Who is the, /z/e/?-hand in the neighbourhood, with whom he may depoſit his pittance of caſh?--In. four cafes out of five, it has happened, that the poor farmer's confidence has been improperly placed. A few years after, his debtor appears in the Gazette, and' away fly the hardly earned ſavings of the unlucky peaſant, who blames his want of / foreſight, and wiſhes,(when wiſhes are vain), that he had laid out his money in the improvement of his fields, which would have amply repaid him for his trouble. It is to be Jamented, that the many loſſes in this way have not opened the eyes of the unfortunate ſufßferers, Time alone can cure this evil. 5 Proprietors are themſelves to blame, in-many inſtances, for the(low progreis which improvements have made in "this quarter. It is well known, that as ſoon as any farm 13 out of leaſe, twenty people come clamouring after it, offer- ing high rents, much more than the land can in fairneſs af- ford to pay. A covetous or an ignorant laird, flattered with the promiſe of a high rent, cloſes with him who dzds the Largeſt ſum of money. There cannot be a greater miſtake in the management of an eſtate: A rent-roll zpoz paper 13 no better than a zmouthful of moonfhine, as the credulous proprietor generally finds. Many points are neceflary to be well weighed before an eſtate ought to be relet, eſpecial 15 conſidering the ſituation in which almoſt all the eſtates in Scotland,(let thirty or forty years ago), are found at the expiry of the leaſes. It is alfo neceflary to mention one unfortunate circumſtance in the management of many eſtates in this county, chiefly thoſe which are the property of abſentees. It is too often the prattice of theſe owners, to commit the entire management of their affairs to mez of zhe law, writers, attornies, or by whatſoever name one chnuſes to