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Show 542 SUMMAR • PAGE production, has no definite limit ; in the production of ne .. cessaries it is strictly limited by the fertility of the soil . 148 The price of necessaries cannot then be regulated upon the principles of a common monopoly 149 Rent is evidently a part of that general surplus from the land, without which none could exist but the mere cul-, tivator ib. SEcT. II.~ OJ tlte necessary Separation of tlte Rent of Landfrom the Pnfits of the Farmer and the 1Vages of tllC Labourer. In the early periods of society the surplus produce is divided chiefly between profits and wage , and appear but little in the hapc of rent . . 150 vVhen, by the increa e of capital and population, profits and wages have fallen, and land of an inferior quality has been cultivated, the value of food will be in excess above the costs of production on the mo t fertile lands, and rent will be separated . 151 A con1parative scarcity of fertile land, occasioned by the increa e of population, is necessary, in addition to the two causes before-mentioned, to eparate a portion of the sur-plus produce into the specific forn1 of rent ib. A portion of the rents of the landlord must consist of a transfer from profits and wage , but this transfer is the necessary condition of increasing cultivation and resources . 152 Cultivator of the richer land, 'vho pay no rent after profits and wages have fallen and poorer land is cultivated, are proprietors as well as farmers 153 As profits and wages fall, poorer and poorer land ·will successively be taken into cultivation, and at every step rents will rise 154 In the progressive cultivation and population of a free state, the progre ive separation of rents, as a kind of fixture upon land of a ,certain quality, is a law as invariable as the principle of gravity . . . . . . . . 155 When the overeign is owner of the soil the regularity of this progress is interrupted, and rents are prematurely created and increa. ed . . . . . . . ib. On fertile soils a high rent may be created immediately by 543 taking a Ia · f , PAGE ' rge portwn o the gros produce; but in thi ca e onl: the most fcrti~e land can be cultivated, and profit , wabes, a~d populatwn, will come to a premature top . 156 To a certa1n . e~tent this has been done in many ea tern states, and It I the reason why their population l1a. cea d to be progre sive, although lllllch good land remain wa te. In these state , the ahno t entire dependence of rent on fertility is particularly conspicuou . . . . . . . . ·b Tl I • 1e premature fall of profits and wages in such states cannot be prevented by the employment of capital and labour in other branches of industry besides agriculture . . . . 157 In su~h state the interest of Inoney is a n1o t imperfect critenon of the general rate of profits, particularly on the land . . . . . . . . 1 f:J8 Similar causes prevailed, though not. to. the ~ai~e ~xt~nt: ii~ the early periods of most European states, and the rate of profits on the land had not much connection either with the profits of stock in Inanufactures and comn1crce, or with the interest of n1oney . . . . . . . . 159 Under all circumstances, rent separates fron1 the general ur-plus produce whenever a scarcity of fertile land takes plac·', either naturally or artificially . 160 ---- SEc. III.-Of the Causes which tend to raise Rents in the ordinary Progress qf Society. . Four causes 1nay be stated as n1ainly tending to diminish the expenses of production con1parcd with the price of produce and so to raise rents . . . . . . 160 The two first, profits and 'vages, are sometilne~ aftec~ed.in .op~ posite directions, and counterbalance each other, but thi is only a temporary effect. In general, profit and real wages f~ll together, and this may take place by a progressive money rise of corn and labour, as described by 1\fr. Ricardo . . I 61 But profits and real wages n1ay fall, and rent be regularly separated, under any variations in the value of Inoney . . 162 The third cause which raises rents, by lowering the expenses of cultivation, is agricultural hnprovements . . . . . 163 If the ~mprovements be such as to diminish the co ts of productwn; without increasing the quantity produced, the price |