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addition of the profits upon such advances, must obviously always be the same.
At an early period of society, when the soil was very fertile and the labour of 7 men only was necessary to produce 100 quarters of corn on land which paid little or no rent, the advances in labour being 7 men, or in corn 70 quarters, and the return 100 quarters, the rate of profits would be 426⁄7 per cent., and the advances of the labour of 7 men increased by a profit of 426⁄7 would equal the labour of 10 men, or the quantity of labour which the whole return would command. At a more advanced period, when the last land taken into cultivation was less fertile, and the labour of 8 men was necessary to obtain the return of 100 quarters, the advances in labour being 8 men, or in corn 80 quarters, the rate of profits would be 25 per cent., and the labour of 8 men increased by 25 per cent, would exactly equal the labour of 10 men. On the same principle, if at a still later period 9 men were necessary to produce the 100 quarters, the rate of profits would be 111⁄9 per cent., and the quantity of labour employed increased by the profits would still be equal to the labour of 10 men.
It appears then that when the labourer con-
