18. Under the Tithe Act, 1836,[370] and various amending Acts, a tithe commutation rentcharge has now been substituted for all the ancient tithes, except tithes of fish or of fishing, personal tithes (other than the tithes of mills), mineral tithes, payments instead of tithes within the City of London, permanent rentcharges or other payments in lieu of tithes calculated on the rent or value of houses or lands in a city or town under a custom or private Act, and tithes commuted or extinguished under a previous Act. And any of the excepted tithes and payments, as well as Easter offerings, mortuaries, and surplice fees, could be brought within the operation of the Acts by special provisions inserted in the parochial agreements framed under the Acts and approved by the Tithe Commissioners.[371] Where the rectory is impropriate and there is a vicarage, the tithe commutation rentcharge payable to the rector has been assessed in lieu of the rectorial or great tithes, namely, those on corn, hay and wood, and the rentcharge payable to the vicar has been assessed in lieu of the vicarial or small tithes, those on fruits, herbs, live stock, poultry, milk, cheese, and eggs. Under the earlier Acts an extraordinary tithe rentcharge was leviable on lands for the time being cultivated as hop gardens, orchards, fruit plantations, and market gardens; but this special rentcharge has since been abolished, the lands which had been in practice liable to it having been made liable to a fixed additional rentcharge instead.[372] The ordinary tithe rentcharge varies with the average prices of wheat, barley, and oats during the preceding seven years. It was originally assessed on the footing that £33, 6s. 8d. would buy 94.96 bushels of wheat, or 168.42 bushels of barley, or 242.42 bushels of oats; so that £100 of rentcharge was equivalent to those amounts of the three grains. The actual amount of £100 nominal rentcharge in any year is accordingly the sum which would buy those amounts of the three grains at the septennial average prices published in the _London Gazette_ at the beginning of the year.[373] 19. Tithe commutation rentcharge is payable half-yearly by the owner of the land on which it is assessed. If it is in arrear for more than three months, it may be recovered on application to the county court, (_a_) if the owner is in occupation of the land, by distress, or, if there is no sufficient distress, by proceedings to obtain possession of the land under section 82 of the Tithe Act, 1836, and (_b_) in other cases, by the appointment of a receiver of the rents and profits of the land.[374] Special facilities are given for the recovery of tithe rentcharge payable in respect of land in the hands of a railway company which is in arrear for twenty-one days or upwards, by distress upon the goods of the company on any part of its line.[375]