IV CAPITAL— THE MOTHER OF LABOUR. 161 



— namely, sunshine, range of daily and nightly 

 temperature, wind — are practically out of men's 

 reach.* On the other hand, the supply of water, 

 the physical and chemical qualities of the soil, 

 and the influences of competitors and destroyers, 

 can often, though by no means always, be largely 

 affected by labour and skill. And there is no 

 harm in calling the effect of such labour " pro- 

 duction," if it is clearly understood that " produc- 

 tion " in this sense is a very different thing from 

 the " production " of food-stuffs by a plant. 



We have been dealing hitherto with supposi- 

 tions the materials of which are furnished by 

 everyday experience, not with mere a priori as- 

 sumptions. Our hypothetical solitary shepherd 

 with his flock, or the solitary farmer with his grain 

 field, are mere bits of such experience, cut out, as 

 it were, for easy study. Still borrowing from 

 daily experience, let us suppose that either sheep- 

 owner or farmer, for any reason that may be im- 

 agined, desires the help of one or more other men; 

 and that, in exchange for their labour, he offers 

 so many sheep, or quarts of milk, or pounds of 



* I do not forget electric lighting, greenhouses and 

 hothouses, and the various modes of affording shelter 

 against violent winds: but in regard to production of 

 food-stuflFs on the large scale they may be neglected. 

 Even if synthetic chemistry should effect the construc- 

 tion of proteids, the Laboratory will hardly enter into 

 competition with the Farm within any time which the 

 present generation need trouble itself about. 

 223 



