THE RENT AND VALUE OF FARM LAND 617 



progress of population, which shall oblige a country to have recourse 

 to land of a worse quality to enable it to raise its supply of food, rent 

 on all the more fertile land will rise. 



Thus suppose land Nos. i, 2, 3 to yield, with an equal employ- 

 ment of capital and labor, a net produce of 100, 90, and 80 quarters 

 of corn. In a new country, where there is an abundance of fertile 

 land compared with the population, and where therefore it is only 

 necessary to cultivate No. i, the whole net produce will belong to 

 the cultivator, and will be the profits of the stock (capital) which he 

 advances. As soon as population had so far advanced as to make it 

 necessary to cultivate No. 2, from which ninety quarters only can be 

 obtained after supporting the laborers, rent would commence on 

 No. i; for either there must be two rates of profit on agricultural 

 capital, or the value of ten quarters must be withdrawn from the 

 produce of No. i, for some other purpose. Whether the proprietor 

 of the land, or any other person cultivated No. i, these ten quarters 

 would equally constitute rent; for the cultivator of No. 2 would get 

 the same result with his capital, whether he cultivated No. i, paying 

 ten quarters for rent, or continued to cultivate No. 2, paying no rent. 

 In the same- manner it might be shown that when No. 3 is brought 

 into cultivation, the rent of No. 2 must be ten quarters, while the 

 rent of No. i would rise to twenty quarters; for the cultivator of 

 No. i would rise to twenty quarters; for the cultivator of No. 3 

 would have the same profits, whether he paid twenty quarters for the 

 rent of No. i, ten quarters for the rent of No. 2, or cultivated No. 3 

 free of all rent. 



It often, and indeed commonly, happens that before No. 2, 3, 

 4, or 5, or the inferior lands are cultivated, capital can be employed 

 more productively on those lands which are already in cultivation. 

 It may perhaps be found that by doubling the original capital 

 employed on No. i, though the produce will not be doubled, will 

 not be increased by one hundred quarters, it may be increased by 

 eighty-five quarters, and that this quantity exceeds what could be 

 obtained by employing the same capital on land No. 3. In such case, 

 capital will be preferably e'mployed on the old land, and will equally 

 create a rent; for rent is always the difference between the produce 

 obtained by the employment of two equal quantities of capital and 

 labor. If with a capital of 1,000, a. tenant obtain one hundred 

 quarters of wheat from his land, and by the employment of a second 

 capital of 1,000 he obtains a further return of eighty-five, his landlord 



