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Show 178 OF THE RENT OF LAND. '[cH. III. 'Ve see then that a progressive rise of rents see1ns to be necessarily connected with the pro .. gressive cultivation of new land, and the .pro.gre~· sive in1provement of the old: and that this rtse Is the natural and necessary consequence of the operation of four causes, which ate the n1ost certain indications of increasing prosperity and wealthnanlely, the accun1ulation of capital, the increase of population, in1prove1nents in agricult~re, an? the high tnarket price of ra'v produce, occasioned e1ther by a great demand for it in foreign countries, or by the extension of commerce and manufactures. I SECTION IV. Of the Causes rvhich tend to lower llents. The causes which lead to a fall of rents are, as n1ay be expected, exactly of an opposite description to those which lead to a rise: natnely, diminished capital, din1inished population, a bad system of cultivation, and the low tnarket price of raw produce. They are all indications of poverty and decline, and are necessarily connected 'vith the throwing of inferior land out of cultivation, and the continued deterioration of the land of a superior qua-l 1. ty . * The necessary effects of a diminished capital and diminished population in lowering rents, are too • The effects of importing foreign corn will be considered more particularly in the ne:'\t section, and a subsequet)t part of this chapter. SEC. IV.] OF THE RENT OF LAND. 179 obvious to require explanation; nor is it less clear that an operose and bad system of cultivation n1ight prevent the formation of rents, even on fertile land, by checking the progress of population and denland beyond what could be supplied from the very richest qualities of soil. I 'vill only therefore advert to the fourth cause here noticed. We have seen that a _rise in the price of corn, terminating in an alteration in the value of the precious metals, would give a considerable stin1ulus to cultivation for a certain tin1e, and so1ne facilities pern1anently, and might occasion a considerable and pennanent rise of rents. And this case was exetnplified by \vbat had happened in this country during the period fron1 1794 to 1 81 ~~. It may be stated in like n1anner, that a fall in the price of corn terminating in a rise in the value of ll10ney, must, upon the same principles, tend to throw land out of cultivation and lower rents. ~nd. this Ina~ be exetnplified by what happened 111 this country at the conclusion of the war. The fall in the price of corn at that period necessarily· disabl~d the cultivators fron1 en1ploying the san~e q uant1ty of labour at the san1e price. lVIany labourers, therefore, \Vere unavoidably thro\vn out of en1ployment; and, as the land could not be cultivated in the same 'Nay, \Vithout the same number of hands, the \Vorst soils were' no lono-er \vorked m~ch agricultural capital 'vas destroyed, and re~t~ untversally fell; 'vhile this. great failure in the po\ver of purchasing, among all those "\Vho either rented or possessed land, naturally occasioned a N~ |