Ch. viii. Of the Agricultural System. 131 



or no rent. The labourer who earns a value equal 

 to fifteen or twenty quarters of corn in the year 

 may have only a family of three or four children, 

 and not consume in kind above five or six quarters ; 

 and the owner of the farming stock, which yields 

 high profits, may consume but a very moderate pro- 

 portion of them in food and raw materials. All 

 the rest, whether in the shape of wages and pro- 

 fits, or of rents, may be considered as a surplus 

 produce from the soil, which affords the means of 

 subsistence and the materials of clothing and 

 lodging to a certain number of people according 

 to its extent, some of whom may live without 

 manual exertions, and others employ themselves 

 in modifying the raw materials obtained from the 

 earth into the forms best suited to the gratification 

 of man. 



It will depend of course entirely upon its 

 answering to a country to exchange a part of the 

 surplus produce for foreign commodities, instead 

 of consuming it at home, whether it is to be con- 

 sidered as mainly agricultural or otherwise. And 

 such an exchange of raw produce for manufac- 

 tures, or peculiar foreign products, may for a 

 period of some extent suit a state, which might 

 resemble Poland in scarcely any other feature 

 but that of exporting corn. 



It appears then, that countries in which the 

 industry of the inhabitants is principally directed 

 towards the land, and in which corn continues to 

 be exported, may enjoy great abundance or ex- 

 perience great want, according to the particular 



K 2 



