He sat down on an old roller that lay in the corner of the field, and thought over the position of things.  He calculated that it would cost the incoming tenant an expenditure of from one thousand two hundred pounds to one thousand five hundred pounds to put the farm, which was a large one, into proper condition.  It could not be got into such condition under three years of labour.  The new tenant must therefore be prepared to lay out a heavy sum of money, to wait while the improvement went on, must live how he could meanwhile, and look forward some three years for the commencement of his profit.  To such a state had the farm been brought in a brief time.  And how would the landlord come off?  The new tenant would certainly make his bargain in accordance with the state of the land.  For the first year the rent paid would be nominal; for the second, perhaps a third or half the usual sum; not till the third year could the landlord hope to get his full rental.  That full rental, too, would be lower than previously, because the general depression had sent down arable rents everywhere, and no one would pay on the old scale.

Smith thought very hard things of the landlord, and felt that he should have his revenge.  On the other hand, the landlord thought very hard things of Smith, and not without reason.  That an old tenant, the descendant of one of the oldest tenant-farmer families, should exhaust the soil in this way seemed the blackest return for the good feeling that had existed for several generations.  There was great irritation on both sides.

Smith had, however, to face one difficulty.  He must either take another farm at once, or live on his capital.  The interest of his capital—­if invested temporarily in Government securities—­would hardly suffice to maintain the comfortable style of living he and his rather large family of grown-up sons and daughters had been accustomed to.  He sometimes heard a faint, far off ‘still small voice,’ that seemed to say it would have been wiser to stay on, and wait till the reaction took place and farming recovered.  The loss he would have sustained by staying on would, perhaps, not have been larger than the loss he must now sustain by living on capital till such time as he saw something to suit him.  And had he been altogether wise in omitting all endeavours to gain his end by conciliatory means?  Might not gentle persuasion and courteous language have ultimately produced an impression?  Might not terms have been arranged had he not been so vehement?  The new tenant, notwithstanding that he would have to contend with the shocking state of the farm, had such favourable terms that if he only stayed long enough to let the soil recover, Smith knew he must make a good thing of it.