(2.1) We have seen that two classes of persons are concerned in production; Labourers, andCapitalists. Each of these classes must have its share of the commodities produced: or, whichcomes to the same thing, of the benefit derived from them. When the Land is one of theinstruments of production, another party comes in for a portion; I mean, the Owners of the Land.
And these three classes; the labourers, the capitalists, and the landlords; immediately share, thatis, divide among them, the whole of the annual produce of the country.
(2.2) When the parties are determined, among whom the whole of the produce is distributed,it remains to be ascertained, by what laws the proportions are established, according to which thedivision is made. We shall begin with the explanation of Rent, or the share received byLandlords; as it is the most simple, and will facilitate the explanation of the laws, upon whichthe shares, of the Labourers, and of the Capitalists, depend.
Section I. Rent (2.i.1) Land is of different degrees of fertility. There is a species of land, the elevated orstony parts, for example, of high mountains, loose sand, and certain marshes, which may be said toproduce nothing. Between this and the most productive sort, there are lands of all theintermediate degrees of fertility.
(2.i.2) Again; lands, of the highest fertility, do not yield the whole of what they are capableof yielding, with the same facility. A piece of land, for example, may be capable of yieldingannually ten quarters of corn, or twice ten, or three times ten, It yields, however, the first ten,with a certain quantity of labour, the second ten, not without a greater, the third ten, not withouta greater still, and so on; every additional ten requiring to its production a greater cost than theten which preceded it. This is well known to be the law, according to which, by a greaterexpenditure of capital, a greater produce is obtained, from the same portion of land.
(2.i.3) Till the whole of the best land is brought under cultivation, and till it has received theapplication of a certain quantity of capital, all the capital employed upon the land is employedwith an equal return. At a certain point, however, no additional capital can be employed uponthe same land, without a diminution of return. In any country, therefore, after a certain quantityof corn has been raised, no greater quantity can be raised, but at a greater cost. If such additionalquantity is raised, the capital, employed upon the land, may be distinguished into, two portions;one, producing a higher; another, a lower return.
(2.i.4) When capital producing a lower return is applied to the land, it is applied in one oftwo ways. It is either applied to new land of the second degree of fertility, then for the first timebrought under cultivation; or it is applied to land of the first degree of fertility, which has alreadyreceived all the capital which can be applied without a diminution of return.
(2.i.5) Whether capital shall be applied to land of the second degree of fertility, or in asecond dose to the land of the first degree of fertility, will depend, in each instance, upon the nature andqualities of the two soils. If the same capital which will produce only eight quarters, whenapplied in a second dose to the best land, will produce nine quarters, when applied to land of thesecond degree of fertility, it will be applied to that land, and vice versa (2.i.6) The land of the different degrees of fertility; first, or highest sort; second, or nexthighest, and so on, may, for facility of reference, be denominated, No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, &c. In likemanner, the different doses of capital, which may be applied to the same land, one after another,with less and less effect, may be denominated 1st dose, 2d dose, 3d dose, and so on.
(2.i.7) So long as land produces nothing, it is not worth appropriating. So long as a part onlyof the best land is required for cultivation, all that is uncultivated yields nothing; that is, nothingwhich has any value. It naturally, therefore, remains unappropriated; and any man may have it,who undertakes to render it productive.
(2.i.8) During this time, land, speaking correctly, yields no rent. There is a difference, nodoubt, between the land which has been cultivated, and the land which is yet uncleared for cultivation.
Rather than clear the fresh land, a man will pay an equivalent, annual, or otherwise, for the costof clearing: and it is evident that he will pay no more. This, therefore, is not a payment for thepower of the soil, but simply for the capital bestowed upon the soil. It is not rent; it is interest.
(2.i.9) The time, however, arrives, as population, and the demand for food increase, when itis necessary either to have recourse to land of the second quality, or to apply a second dose ofcapital, less productively, upon land of the first quality.
(2.i.10) If a man cultivates land of the second quality; upon which a certain quantity ofcapital will produce only eight quarters of corn, while the same quantity of capital upon land of the firstquality will produce ten quarters; it will make no difference to him, whether he pay two quartersfor leave to cultivate the first sort, or cultivate the second without any payment. He willtherefore be content to pay two quarters for leave to cultivate the first sort; and that paymentconstitutes rent.
