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Show 206 OF THE RENT OF LAND-. [CH. III. It is so obviously true, as tQ 'be hardly vvorth stating, that if land of the greatest fertility \Vere in such excessive plenty con1pared \Vith the population, that every n1an tnight help hin1self to as n1uch as he wanted, there \Votlld be no rents or landlords properly so called. It \Vill also be readily allo\ved, that if in this or any other country you could suppose the soil suddenly to be n1ade so fertile, that a tenth part of the snrface, and a tenth part ' of the labour now en1ployed upon it, could more than support the present population, you 'vould for so1ne tin1e considerably lower rents. ·But it is of no sort of use to dwell upon, and draw general inferences fron1 suppositions vvhich never can take place. What vve want to know is, vvhether, living as vve do in a lin1ited \vorld, and in conn tries and districts still n1ore li1nited, and under such physical laws relating to the produce of the soil and the increase of population as are · found by experience to prevail, the interests of th~ landlord are generally opposed to those of the society. And in this view of the subject, the question may be settled by an appeal to the most . incontrovertible principles confirn1ed by the most glaring facts. Whatever fanciful suppositions we rnay 1nake about sudden irnproven1ents in fertility, nothing of this kind vvhich \Ve have ever seen 01: heard of in practice, approaches to what we know of the po~ver of population to increase up. to the additional means of subsistence. · Improven1ents in agriculture, ho\vever cons1- SEC. VIII.] OF THE RENT OF LAND. . 207 derab1e. they n1ay finally prove, are al \Vays found to be partial and gradual. And as, ~v here they prevail to any extent, there is alvvays an effective detnand for labour, the increase of population occasioned by the increased facility of procuring food, soon overtakes the additional produce. Instead of land being thro\lvn out of e1nployn1ent, n1ore land is cultiv'\ted, o\ving to the cheapn~ss of the instrun1ents of cultivation, and under these circumstances rents n1ust rise instead of fall. These results appear to n1e to be so cotnpletely co'nfirn1ed by experience, that I doubt, if a single instance in the history of Europe, or any other part of the \Vorlcl, can be produced, vvhere in1provcn1euts in agriculture have been practically found to lo\ver rents. I should further say, that not only have jn1- proven1ents in agriculture never lowered rents, but that they have been hitherto, and tnay be expected to be 'in future, the main source of the increase of rents, in ahnost all the countries with \vhich \Ve are acquainted . . It is a fundan1ental part of the theory \vhich has been explained in this chapter, that, as n1ost countries consist of a gradation of soils, rents rise as cultivation is pushed to poorer lands; but still the connexion bet\veen rent an~ fertility subsists in undi1ninished force. The rich lands arc those which yield the rents, not the poGn· ones. The poor lands are only cultivated, because the increasing population is calling forth all the resources of |