law:
| Price per Bushel. | A | B | C | D | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 bushels | 18 bushels | 12 bushels | 6 bushels | ||||
| Total value of product. | Rent. | Total value of product. | Rent. | Total value of product. | Rent. | Total value of product. | |
| $1.00 | $24.00 | $0.00 | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... |
| $1.33 | $32.00 | $8.00 | $24.00 | $0.00 | .... | .... | .... |
| $2.00 | $48.00 | $24.00 | $36.00 | $12.00 | $24.00 | $0.00 | .... |
| $4.00 | $96.00 | $72.00 | $72.00 | $48.00 | $48.00 | $24.00 | $24.00 |
It was long thought by political economists, among the rest even by Adam Smith, that the produce of land is always at a monopoly value, because (they said), in addition to the ordinary rate of profit, it always yields something further for rent. This we now see to be erroneous. A thing can not be at a monopoly value when its supply can be increased to an indefinite extent if we are only willing to incur the cost. As long as there is any land fit for cultivation, which at the existing price can not be profitably cultivated at all, there must be some land a little better, which will yield the ordinary profit, but allow nothing for rent: and that land, if within the boundary of a farm, will be cultivated by the farmer; if not so, probably by the proprietor, or by some other person on sufferance. Some such land at least, under cultivation, there can scarcely