311 
Of the Evolution of Rent, tyc. 
1831.] 
The difference between outlay and net return is, in this case, £6 Oj. 2d., and the 
net gain is at the rate of between 150 and 160 per cent * Now I ask, by what means 
it could ever become the interest of the cultivator, or of the proprietor of the land, 
if he were a separate person, that successively increasing doses of capital should he 
sunk on this land, till the net proceeds fell to 20 per cent. ? We may rest assured, 
for the country is most densely peopled, that every effort, in the small way, has 
been made to render the spot as productive as possible ; that a D ieatei out y 
could not, with advantage, take place in seed ; or in ploughing, in weeding, or in 
cutting ; for many successive years have proved the present outlay to leave at the 
end of the season, the greatest net gain. Capital might possibly, with advantage, 
he invested on the land, in the introduction of new manures and dressings ; an a 
second crop might perhaps be advantageously obtained from the same land y 
judicious arrangements for irrigation during the dry season ; and that m this way, 
an increasing aggregate of gain might be realized, which should hear g p 
portion to the whole capital sunk, is very probable : but that it should ever be to the 
advantage of any parties to thrust capital on the land till the net produce fell to 
the ordinary rate of profit in trade, I cannot be persuaded. . 
If now we turn from the study of bananas and rice in tropical climates, to soils 
and skies, where all is comparative sterility, to the wheat lands o “g * 
instance, we shall still meet with results nearly similar : the average out ay upon 
100 acres of wheat land may, I believe, be taken at about £350 ; whic me a e 
team, and wear and tear, manure, taxes, and so forth ; and the aveiage return y 
be taken at 250 quarters of grain, with about 200 loads of straw. ^ 
wheat be £3 per quarter, we have £7 50 for the grain alone; from which it 
£350 be deducted, there remains a clear surplus of i-400, ev ery y ear, or a 
increase at about 115 per cent., without the value of the st .aw. Under w ate 
stances could it become the farmers, or the landlord’s interest, to increase 
seed, the team, the number of labourers, &c. while the same system of cultivation 
Prevailed, till return bore the proportion of 10 or 20 per cent, to outlay . 
But all the instances I have given are, it may be said, those in which the repro, 
ductive powers of nature are exhibited under peculiar advantages. ® ’ ' 
ns turn to the bleak hillsides, or to the moors of Scotland, where , acres o 
land may yield only sufficient nourishment for a flock of 100 sheep ; an we s la 
still find that the sheep farmer and landlord can never he intei es e m P 
fitting the extension of capital on their land, till net return sin s o sue i 
ss is calculated on by political economists. 
In good pasture lauds, I learn, that a flock of 200 ewes, on 100 acres of land,™* 
l>e calculated to produce every year 220 lambs, each of which at years 
of equal value with the parent ewe, besides having yielded every yeai a ee . 
Bet us therefore suppose the case of worse lands, where two thousand acres yield 
°nly as much the 100 good acres, where the sheep have far to travel foi w la > 7 
eat ) and where they are exposed to many accidents, and that every secon ewe ears 
iamb, which is in three y r ears a prime sheep ; then after the lapse ° ^ 
years, there is realized a periodical increase of about 50 per cent, in sto » 
Besides the value of the wool. The capital sunk in sheep must, always yit ie 
8ame rate of increase and profit on the same extent of land, so long as ae e * 
tent of the stock is properly adapted to the powers of the lands on wnci 
’ There seems some error in the calculation of the preceding , stal ^“ l f* ^SS. 
& r ° M amount will not be materially affected, we leave them as they stand in the MbS. 
