leave the farmer a fair profit on the additional capital he has expended. If this is the case, the additional labour will be as profitable to the farmer as that which he first employed, but it will not be so productive. When only 200l. was expended on wages, the produce of this labour must have been sufficient not only to return a fair profit upon the amount expended in wages, but must also have been sufficient to cover the rent. If the additional labour employed diminishes in productiveness, it may be said why not apply it to other land? It cannot, however, be applied to equally good land without having to pay a rent for the use of the land; hence, up to a certain point, it is more remunerative to apply additional labour to the same land, although the labour diminishes in productiveness, rather than to apply the labour to other land for which rent will have to be paid. But if good land were extremely plentiful, or if, in other words, rents were extremely low as in America, it would manifestly be far more profitable to cultivate fresh land rather than apply additional labour upon land already under tillage in order to cultivate it more highly. Hence, in America much less labour is employed in the cultivation of a certain area of land than would be employed upon the same area in England, and farming is consequently more slovenly in the former than in the latter country, because in the one country land is cheaper than in the other, and labour dearer.
Comparison of the different results obtained.In this and the preceding chapter, we have investigated the laws which regulate the increase of labour, and capital, and cultivable land. These laws combined, furnish the conditions upon which depends an increase in the production of wealth. We have attempted to illustrate the manner in which these laws may be combined, by considering four countries, England, India, the West Indies, and the United States; and in each of these countries the requisites for an increased production of wealth assume, relatively, different degrees of importance. In England an abundant supply of cheap food is required; in India, an increase of capital is most essential; and in the West Indies, an increase of labour. In America the production of wealth meets with no serious impediment, and it advances with the most