The  conclusion,  however,  may  be  established  by
the  clearest  evidence,  without  regard  to  the  question,
whether  all  land  pays  or  does  not  pay  rent.  On  land
which  pays  the  highest  rent,  we  have  seen  that  ca-


SECT.  ;— RENT.  23

pital  applied  in  successive  doses  is  not  attended  with
equal  results.     The  first  dose  yields  more,  possibly
much  more,  than  the  return  for  the  capital.     The
second  also  may  yield  more,  and  so  on.     The  rent,  if
accurately  calculated,  will  be  equal  to  all  that  is  ren^
dered  by  those  several  doses,  over  and  above  the  pro-
fits of  stock.     The  cultivator,  of  course,  applies  ajl
those  several  doses  of  capital  on  which  he  has  agreed
to  pay   rent.     But   immediately  after  them  comes
another   dose,  which,  though  it  yields  nothing   for
rent,  may  fully  yield  the  ordinary  profits  of  stock.
It  is  for  the  profits  of  stock,  and  them  alone,  that  the  1
farmer  cultivates.      As  long,  therefore,  as  capital  ay-  ,
plied  to  his  farm  vdll  yield  the  ordinary  profits  of  |
stock,  he  will  apply  capital,  if  he  has  it.     I  therefore  i
conclude,  with  assurance,  that  in  the  natural  state  of
things,  in  every  agricultural  country,  one  portion  of  '\
the  capital  employed  upon  the  land  pays  no  rent;
rent,  therefore,  consists  wholly  of  that  produce  which
is  yielded  by  the  other  portions  of  capital,  over  and  |
above  the  return  which  is  due  to  them.
24  CHAP.  II — DISTRIBUTION.
SECTION  11,

WAGES.
V  Production  is  performed  by  labour.  Labour,
however,  receives  the  raw  material  which  it  fashions,
and  the  machinery  by  which  it  is  aided,  from  capital ;
or,  more  properly  speaking,  these  articles  are  the  ca-^
pital  itself.
