more food is wanted than land A can supply, it will be profitable to till land B, but which, as yet, pays no rent. But if eighteen bushels are a sufficient return to a given amount of labor and capital, then when an equal amount of labor and capital engaged on A returns twenty-four bushels, six of that are beyond the ordinary profit, and form the rent on land A, and so on; C will next be the line of comparison, and then D; as the poorer soils are cultivated, the rent of A increases:
| Population Increase. | A | B | C | D | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 bushels | 18 bushels | 12 bushels | 6 bushels | |||||
| Total product | Rent in Bushels | Total product | Rent in Bushels | Total product | Rent in Bushels | Total product | Rent in Bushels | |
| I. | 24 | 0 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |
| II. | 24 | 6 | 18 | 0 | .. | .. | .. | .. |
| III. | 24 | 12 | 18 | 6 | 12 | 0 | .. | .. |
| IV. | 24 | 18 | 18 | 12 | 12 | 6 | 6 | 0 |
§ 5. Opposing Views of the Law of Rent.
Under the name of rent, many payments are commonly included, which are not a remuneration for the original powers of the land itself, but for capital expended on it. The buildings are as distinct a thing from the farm as the stock or the timber on it; and what is paid for them can no more be called rent of land than