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Show / 176 OF THE RENT OF LAND. [ca. rrr. duction, as would raise rents in the actual state of cultivation. But thouo·h cultivation cannot be extended and the produceb of a country increased, ex~ept 1. 11 sueh a state of thino·s qS \vould allow of a nse of rents; yet it is of im;ortance to ren:ark, that ~his rise of rents will be by no means 111 proportion to the extension of cultivation or the increase of prod uce. Every relative fall in the price of the instrutnents of production tnay allow of the employ~nent of a considerable quantity of additional cap1tal; and vvhen either new land is taken into cultivation or the old in1proved, the increase of produce n1ay be considerable, though the increase of rents be t rifling. We see, in consequenc~, that in the progress of a country toV\rards a high state of cul tivation, the quantity of capital en1ployed upon the land and the quantity of produce yielded by it bear a constantly increasing proportion to the an1ount of rents, unless counterbalanced by extraordinary . in1prove1nents in the tnodes of cultivation.* * To the honour of Scotch cultivators it should be observed, that they have applied their capitals so very skilfully a~1d economically, that at the same time that they have prodigiously increased the produce, they have increased the landlord's proportion of it. The difference between the landlord's share of the produce in Scotland and in England is quite extraordinarymuch greater than can be accounted for, either by the natural soil or the absence of tithes and poors-rates.-See Sir John Sin~ clair's valuab.le Account of the I-Iusbandry of Scotland ; and the General Report not long since published-works replete with the most useful and interesting information on agricultural subjects~ ~EC. III.] OF THE RENT OF -LAND. 177 i\ccording to the returns lately n1ade to the Board of ...t \.gricultute, the average proportion 'vhich rent bears to the value of the whole produce see1ns not to exceed one~ fifth;* whereas formerly, \V hen there \Vas less capital en1ployed and less value produced, the proportion an1ountcd to one-fourth, onethird, or even two-fifths. Still, ho\vever, the n umerical difference bet\veen the price of produce and the expenses of cultivation increases with the progress of improve1nent; and though the landlord has a less share of the \V hofe produce, yet this less share, fron1 the very great increase of the produce, yields a larger quantity, and gives hitn a greater comn1and of corn and labour. If the produce of land be represented by the nu1nber six, and the landlord has one-fourth of it, his share \viii be represented by one ai1d a half. If the produce of land be as ten, and the landlord has onefifth of it, his share \Vill be represented by tvvo. r n the latter case, therefore, though the proportion of the landlord's share to the whole produce is greatly di1ninished, his real rent, independently of no1ninal price, -w·ill be increased in the prop9rtion of fro1n three to four. And, in general, in all cases of increasing produce, if the landlord's sbare of this produce do not din1inish in the san1e proportion, which, though it often happens during the currency of leases, rarely or never happens on the rene,val of them, the real rents of land 111 ust rise. * See Evidence before the I-Iouse of Lords, given by Arthur Young, p. 66. N |