It often happens that the proprietor of land wants the skill, or the capital, or the inclination to cultivate it, and by renting it, he, the tenant, and the State would be gainers. The benefit may, however, be materially affected by the length of the term for which the land is rented. In long leases, the tenant is interested in manuring the soil, and in making other improvements; but in short ones, his interest is rather a present than a future profit, and to expend no money which will not give an immediate or a short return.

In the United States, where, from the cheapness of land, so many are able to buy it, and where almost every man hopes to own it, leases from year to year, to be terminated at the pleasure of either party, after notice, are very common; and the landlord endeavors to guard against their inherent disadvantages by strict stipulations as to the course of cultivation, the rotation of crops, manuring, and the like; but these engagements, being often evaded, or unfaithfully executed, are prolific of dispute and mutual discontent. Probably England owes the excellence of her husbandry to no one thing so much as long leases.

Lands are sometimes rented for a proportional part of the crop; which proportion varies from a fourth to a half, according to the richness of the soil; and occasionally for more than a half, as in the case of meadows, and spots of extraordinary fertility. The difference of profit between the best and the worst arable soils is yet greater than the difference of rent stated; but as, in this country, there is little land rented which has not its value to the tenant enhanced by a dwelling-house, fences, and other improvements, there are scarcely any portions, however poor, which rent for less than one-fourth. Even as to these inferior soils, there is, in the first settled States, more competition among the class of renters than that of landlords. The proportion for rent is greatest in the most densely peopled States.

Very frequently land is rented for an annual sum of money which is somewhat less than its estimated value; the proprietor preferring the certainty of a smaller sum to the mere chance of a larger one. This is the general mode of renting in England. It is the best method in a rich country.

There is another kind of rent, where the land is cultivated at the joint expense of the landlord and tenant, who divide the produce between them. This is called the Metayer system. It prevails extensively in France and other parts of continental Europe, and is not unfrequent in the United States. It admits of infinite modifications, as to the proportion which the parties respectively provide of the live stock, the seed, taxes, and implements of husbandry. Here, too, the terms of the bargain are most advantageous to the landlord in the most densely populated districts.

The metayer system has been generally condemned by English writers, as liable to the objections made to short leases, and as favoring improvident culture. Yet some parts of Europe where it prevails have a prosperous and happy tenantry.

In the northern half of the United States, the larger proprietors of the land cultivate it by hired laborers; in which case, the rent or profits of the soil are combined with the profits of capital.

In the southern division, the larger tracts of land are generally cultivated by slaves, while many of the small tracts are tilled by their proprietors. In both cases, the profits of the land are combined with those both of labor and capital.

In all cases in which land is cultivated by the proprietor, a considerable part of the profits of the soil consists in the supplies furnished to his family in fuel, and in various kinds of aliment, as meats, poultry, milk, butter, and garden stuff, which commonly amount to a respectable rent, though they are often , overlooked in the estimates made of the profits of landed property.