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Show 546 SUMMARY. PAGE falling, it is not necessary that all the instruments· of pro .. duction should be dearer . . 180 "11en land is thrown out of cultivation, the diminished amount of rent will bear a larger proportion to the capital and produce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . If, under the impression th~t rent is injurious t~ the consurnel', the price of corn were kept down so as to y1eld no rent~ all except the v ry best land would be tbroVi·n out of cult1va-tion . 181 182 S~cT. V.-On the Dryendance of tlte Actual Quantity of Produce obtained from tlte Land upon tlte e:c~ting Rents, and tlze exist~ng Prices. The price of corn,. in every progressive country, will be eq~al to the cost of production on land of the poore t quahty actually in use, with the addition of the rent it would yield in its natural state . , , : 183 Corn, therefore, in reference to the whole quantity raised, is sold at its natural anu necessary price, as w'"'ll as all otl1er unmonopolized con1modities . . . . . . . . : · ib. The soil consists of a O'reat number of machines in gradatiOn, b of very difl'erent original qualities and powers, though all susceptible of improvement . . . . . . . . . · 184 In manufactures, as the nwst improved machines may be sup~ plied in the quantity wanted, the use of inferior ones is superseded, and the price of the commodity falls to the cost of production from the improved machinery . · · · ib. In agriculture, the rich lands are never sufficient to supply ~he population ; and when poor lands are employed, the prtce compared with the cost of production must be such as ~0 yield rents on all the richer lands, in proportion to their goodness. . 185 The illustration here used, of a gradation of machines, for producing corn, shews at once the necessity of the actual price to the actual produce, in the existing state of mo t countries ; and the different efl'ects which would attend . a reduction in the price of a manufacture, and a reduction m the price of corn ib., :347 \Ve ~ust not" infet·, however, that thi grad:ltion of soil i PAGE ~tnctl~ necessary to the foflnation and rise of rent . all that Is requtred is, limited territory, combined with fer~ility and den1and . If all the land~ of_ a limited te;-rit~ry. w~rc .eq~aiiy rich; t·e~ts: 186 a.f~er a certain tunc, would be high in proportion t the fer-tihty of the oil . . . . Nor Wonld the effect be diftercnt if ti1e ~ua~ti;y ;f c~pi;al iaid ib. out up~n the s~me land could not be incrca ed; capitals would Increase In other emploYincnts, and profits fall • . 187 In ~hese cases, r~nt is obvjously not regulated by tbe grada-tions of the s01l, or the different returns of the same amount of capital employed on the same soil . . . . . . . . ib. Anothet incorrect inference which has been drawn from this theory of rent is, that when land is thrown out of cultivation, profits will be high in proportion to the fertility of the soil then e1nployed . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 As in an improved country, uncultivated land yields a rent in proportion to its power of feeding cattle or growing wood, the whole produce of the last land in cultivation, under such circun1stances, could not be divided between pro:fits and wages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ib. The probable fall in the money price of corn, greater than in the materials of the fanner's capital, will tend further to diminish profits; and often n1ore than counterbalance the difference of natural fertility . . . . . . . . . 189 The returns of the last capital employed on the sa1ne land, without paying a rent, must always follow and can never lead or regulate profits . . . . . . . . . . . . ib. When land is thrown out of cultivation by the iinportation of foreign corn, capital will probably be redundant; and, in that case, whatever n1ay be the state of the last land in cultivation, profits n1ust be low . . . . . . . . . 190 The rents paid for land in its natural state will not invalidate the doctrine, that, in progressiv.e countries, with gradations of soil, corn is sold at its natural ot necessary price . ib. NN2 |