bout by a boy of seven. He travelled much, and admired the
farms of Norfolk most in England, and those of Holland and Flanders
abroad, founding his own system on these. It was his opinion that the
Devon breed of cattle were incapable of improvement by a cross of any
other breed, and that from the West Highland heifer the best breed of
cattle might be produced.

He died in 1795, and apparently did not keep what he made, owing
largely to his boundless hospitality, which had entertained Russian
princes, German royal dukes, English peers, and travellers from all
countries. His breed of cattle has completely disappeared, unless
traces survive in the lately resuscitated longhorn breed, but his
principles are still acted upon, viz. the correlation of form, and the
practice of consanguineous breeding under certain conditions.

Bakewell's earliest pupil was George Culley, who devoted himself to
improving the breed of cattle, and became one of the most famous
agriculturists at the end of the eighteenth and the commencement of
the nineteenth centuries. Another farmer to whom English agriculture
owes much was John Ellman of Glynde, born in 1753, who by careful
selection firmly established the reputation of the Southdown sheep
which had previously been hardly recognized. He was one of the
founders of the Smithfield Cattle Show in 1793, which helped
materially to improve the live stock of the country.

The relations between landlord and tenant, judging from the accounts
of contemporary writers, were generally good. Leases were less
frequent than agreements voidable by six months' notice on either
side, and when there was a tenancy-at-will the tenant who entered as a
young man was often expected to hand on the holding to his posterity,
and therefore executed improvements at his own cost, so complete was
the trust between landlord and tenant. Tenants then did much that they
would refuse to do to-day, as the following lease, common in the
Midlands in 1786, shows[488]:

Tenant agrees to take, &c., and to pay the stipulated rent
within forty days, without any deduction for taxes, and
double rent so long as he continues to hold after notice
given.

To repair buildings, accidents by fire excepted.

To repair gates and fences.

When required, to cut and plash the hedges, and make the
ditches 3 feet by 2 feet, or pay or cause to be paid to
the landlord 1s. per rood for such as shall not be done
after