It may be laid down then as a general truth, that rents
naturally rise as the difference between the price of produce and
the cost of the instruments of production increases.

It is further evident, that no fresh land can be taken into
cultivation till rents have risen, or would allow of a rise upon
what is already cultivated.

Land of an inferior quality requires a great quantity of
capital to make it yield a given produce; and, if the actual
price of this produce be not such as fully to compensate the cost
of production, including the existing rate of profits, the land
must remain uncultivated. It matters not whether this
compensation is effected by an increase in the money price of raw
produce, without a proportionate increase in the money price of
the instruments of production, or by a decrease in the price of
the instruments of production, without a proportionate decrease
in the price of produce. What is absolutely necessary, is a
greater relative cheapness of the instruments of production, to
make up for the quantity of them required to obtain a given
produce from poor land.

But whenever, by the operation of one or more of the causes
before mentioned, the instruments of production become cheaper,
and the difference between the price of produce and the expenses
of cultivation increases, rents naturally rise. It follows
therefore as a direct and necessary consequence, that it can
never answer to take fresh land of a poorer quality into
cultivation, till rents have risen or would allow of a rise, on