ning of the century, and the rents of many hood of Rome, must have been very much Highland estates have been tripled and quadrupled in the same time. In almost every part of Great Britain, a pound of the best butcher's meat is, in the present times, generally worth more than two pounds of the best white bread; and in plentiful years it is sometimes worth three or four pounds. It is thus that, in the progress of improvement, the rent and profit of unimproved pasture come to be regulated in some measure by the rent and profit of what is improved, and these again by the rent and profit of corn. Corn is an annual crop; butcher's meat, a crop which requires four or five years to grow. As an acre of land, therefore, will produce a much smaller quantity of the one species of food than of the other, the inferiority of the quantity must be compensated by the superiority of the price. If it was more than compensated, more corn-land would be turned into pasture; and if it was not compensated, part of what was in pasture would be brought back into corn. This equality, however, between the rent and profit of grass and those of corn; of the land of which the immediate produce is food for cattle, and of that of which the immediate produce is food for men, must be understood to take place only through the greater part of the improved lands of a great country. In some particular local situations it is quite otherwise, and the rent and profit of grass are much superior to what can be made by corn. Thus, in the neighbourhood of a great town, the demand for milk, and for forage to horses, frequently contribute, together with the high price of butcher's meat, to raise the value of grass above what may be called its natural proportion to that of corn. This local advantage, it is evident, cannot be communicated to the lands at a distance. Particular circumstances have sometimes rendered some countries so populous, that the whole territory, like the lands in the neighbourhood of a great town, has not been sufficient to produce both the grass and the corn necessary for the subsistence of their inhabit ants. discouraged by the distributions of corn which were frequently made to the people, either gratuitously, or at a very low price. This corn was brought from the conquered provinces, of which several, instead of taxes, were obliged to furnish a tenth part of their produce at a stated price, about sixpence a-peck, to the republic. The low price at which this corn was distributed to the people, must necessarily have sunk the price of what could be brought to the Roman market from Latium, or the ancient territory of Rome, and must have discouraged its cultivation in that country. It is conve In an open country, too, of which the prin cipal produce is corn, a well-inclosed piece of grass will frequently rent higher than any corn field in its neighbourhood. nient for the maintenance of the cattle employed in the cultivation of the corn; and its high rent is, in this case, not so properly paid from the value of its own produce, as from that of the corn lands which are cultivated by means of it. It is likely to fall, if ever the neighbouring lands are completely inclosed. The present high rent of inclosed land in Scotland seems owing to the scarcity of inclosure, and will probably last no longer than that scarcity. The advantage of inclosure is greater for pasture than for corn. It saves the labour of guarding the cattle, which feed better, too, when they are not liable to be disturbed by their keeper or his dog. But where there is no local advantage of this kind, the rent and profit of corn, or whatever else is the common vegetable food of the people, must naturally regulate upon the land which is fit for producing it, the rent and pro. fit of pasture. The use of the artificial grasses, of turnips, carrots, cabbages, and the other expedients which have been fallen upon to make an equal quantity of land feed a greater number of cattle than when in natural grass, should somewhat reduce, it might be expected, the superiority which, in an improved country, the price of butcher's meat naturally has over that of bread. It seems accordingly to have done so; and there is some reason for believing that, at least in the London market, the price of butcher's meat, in proportion to the price of bread, is a good deal lower in the present times than it was in the beginning of the last century. Their lands, therefore, have been principally employed in the production of grass, the more bulky commodity, and which cannot be so easily brought from a great distance; and corn, the food of the great body of the people, has been chiefly imported from foreign countries. Holland is at present in this situation; and a considerable part of ancient In the Appendix to the life of Prince HenItaly seems to have been so during the prospe- ry, Doctor Birch has given us an account of rity of the Romans. To feed well, old Cato the prices of butcher's meat as commonly paid said, as we are told by Cicero, was the first by that prince. It is there said, that the four and most profitable thing in the management quarters of an ox, weighing six hundred of a private estate; to feed tolerably well, the pounds, usually cost him nine pounds ten second; and to feed ill, the third. To plough, shillings, or thereabouts; that is thirty-one he ranked only in the fourth place of profit shillings and eight-pence per hundred pounds and advantage. Tillage, indeed, in that part weight. Prince Henry died on the 6th of No. of ancient Italy which lay in the neighbour-vember 1612, in the nineteenth year of his age In March 1764, there was a parliamentary | sonable interest of compensation for this supe inquiry into the causes of the high price of rior expense. The provisions at that time. It was then, among In a hop garden, a fruit garden, a kitcher other proof to the same purpose, given in evi- garden, both the rent of the landlord, and the dence by a Virginia merchant, that in March profit of the farmer, are generally greater than But to bring the 1763, he had victualled his ships for twenty- in a corn or grass field. four or twenty-five shillings the hundred ground into this condition requires more exweight of beef, which he considered as the or- pense. Hence a greater rent becomes due to It requires, too, a more attendinary price; whereas, in that dear year, he the landlord. had paid twenty-seven shillings for the same tive and skilful management. Hence a greatweight and sort. This high price in 1764 is, er profit becomes due to the farmer. however, four shillings and eight-pence cheap- crop, too, at least in the hop and fruit garden, er than the ordinary price paid by Prince is more precarious. Its price, therefore, be Henry; and it is the best beef only, it must sides compensating all occasional losses, must be observed, which is fit to be salted for those afford something like the profit of insurance. distant voyages. The circumstances of gardeners, generally The price paid by Prince Henry amounts mean, and always moderate, may satisfy us to 3d. 4-5ths per pound weight of the whole that their great ingenuity is not commonly Their delightful art is carcase, coarse and choice pieces taken to-over-recompensed. gether; and at that rate the choice pieces could practised by so many rich people for amusenot have been sold by retail for less than 4 d. ment, that little advantage is to be made by or 5d. the pound. those who practise it for profit; because the persons who should naturally be their best customers, supply themselves with all their most precious productions. In the parliamentary inquiry in 1764, the witnesses stated the price of the choice pieces of the best beef to be to the consumer 4d. and 44d. the pound; and the coarse pieces in general to be from seven farthings to 24d. and 23d.; and this, they said, was in general one halfpenny dearer than the same sort of pieces had usually been sold in the month of March. But even this high price is still a good deal cheaper than what we can well suppose the ordinary retail price to have been in the time of Prince Henry. The advantage which the landlord derives from such improvements, seems at no time to have been greater than what was sufficient to compensate the original expense of making them. In the ancient husbandry, after the vineyard, a well-watered kitchen garden seems to have been the part of the farm which was supposed to yield the most valuable produce, But Democritus, who wrote upon husbandry about two thousand years ago, and who was regarded by the ancients as one of the fathers of the art, thought they did not act wisely who inclosed a kitchen garden. The profit, But in the twelve years preceding 1764, he said, would not compensate the expense of including that year, the average price of the a stone-wall: and bricks (he meant, I supsame measure of the best wheat at the same pose, bricks baked in the sun) mouldered with the rain and the winter-storm, and required During the first twelve years of the last century, the average price of the best wheat at the Windsor market was L.1: 18: 33d. the quarter of nine Winchester bushels. market was L.2 : 1 : 9]d. 1764, including that year. In the first twelve years of the last century, continual repairs. Columella, who reports therefore, wheat appears to have been a good this judgment of Democritus, does not condeal cheaper, and butcher's meat a good deal trovert it, but proposes a very frugal method dearer, than in the twelve years preceding of inclosing with a hedge of brambles and briars, which he says he had found by experi In al. great countries, the greater part of ence to be both a lasting and an impenetrable the cultivated lands are employed in produc- fence; but which, it seems, was not commoning either food for men or food for cattle. ly known in the time of Democritus. Palla The rent and profit of these regulate the rent dius adopts the opinion of Columella, which and profit of all other cultivated land. If any had before been recommended by Varro. In particular produce afforded less, the land would the judgment of those ancient improvers, the soon be turned into corn or pasture; and if produce of a kitchen garden had, it seems, any afforded more, some part of the lands in been little more than sufficient to pay the excorn or pasture would soon be turned to that traordinary culture and the expense of waterproduce. ing; for in countries so near the sun, it was Those productions, indeed, which require thought proper, in those times as in the preeither a greater original expense of improve- sent, to have the command of a stream of wament, or a greater annual expense of cultiva. ter, which could be conducted to every bed in tion in order to fit the land for them, appear the garden. Through the greater part of Eucommonly to afford, the one a greater rent, rope, a kitchen garden is not at present sup the other a greater profit, than corn or pas-posed to deserve a better inclosure than that ture. This superiority, however, will sel- recommended by Columelia. In Great Bri dom be found to amount to more than a rea-tain, and some other northern countries, the finer fruits cannot be brought to perfection more carefully cultivated than in the wine but by the assistance of a wall. Their price, provinces, where the land is fit for producing therefore, in such countries, must be sufficient it: as in Burgundy, Guienne, and the Upper to pay the expense of building and maintain- Languedoc. The numerous hands employed ing what they cannot be had without. The in the one species of cultivation necessarily fruit-wall frequently surrounds the kitchen encourage the other, by affording a ready mar garden, which thus enjoys the benefit of an in-ket for its produce. To diminish the number closure which its own produce could seldom of those who are capable of paying it, is surepay for. ly a most unpromising expedient for encouraging the cultivation of corn. It is like the policy which would promote agriculture, by discouraging manufactures. The rent and profit of those productions, therefore, which require either a greater origi.. nal expense of improvement in order to fit the land for them, or a greater annual expense of cultivation, though often much superior to those of corn and pasture, yet when they do no more than compensate such extraordinary expense, are in reality regulated by the rent and profit of those common crops. It sometimes happens, indeed, that the quan That the vineyard, when properly planted and brought to perfection, was the most valuable part of the farm, seems to have been an undoubted maxim in the ancient agriculture, as it is in the modern, through all the wine countries. But whether it was advantageous to plant a new vineyard, was a matter of dispute among the ancient Italian husbandmen, as we learn from Columella. He decides, like a true lover of all curious cultivation, in favour of the vineyard; and endeavours to shew, by a comparison of the profit and expense, that it was a most advantageous improvement. Such comparisons, however, be-tity of land which can be fitted for some partween the profit and expense of new projects are commonly very fallacious; and in nothing more so than in agriculture. Had the gain actually made by such plantations been commonly as great as he imagined it might have been, there could have been no dispute about it. The same point is frequently at this daying to their natural rates, or according to the a matter of controversy in the wine conntries. rates at which they are paid in the greater Their writers on agriculture, indeed, the lov- part of other cultivated land. The surplus ers and promoters of high cultivation, seem part of the price which remains after defraygenerally disposed to decide with Columella ing the whole expense of improvement and in favour of the vineyard. In France, the cultivation, may commonly, in this case, and anxiety of the proprietors of the old vineyards in this case only, bear no regular proportion to prevent the planting of any new ones, seems to the like surplus in corn or pasture, but may to favour their opinion, and to indicate a con- exceed it in almost any degree; and the greatsciousness in those who must have the experi-er part of this excess naturally goes to the ence, that this species of cultivation is at pre-rent of the landlord. sent in that country more profitable than any other. It seems, at the same time, however, to indicate another opinion, that this superior profit can last no longer than the laws which at present restrain the free cultivation of the vine. In 1731, they obtained an order of council, prohibiting both the planting of new vineyards, and the renewal of these old ones, of which the cultivation had been interrupted for two years, without a particular permission from the king, to be granted only in consequence of an information from the intendant of the province, certifying that he had examined the land, and that it was incapable of The vine is more affected by the difference any other culture. The pretence of this or- of soils than any other fruit-tree. From some der was the scarcity of corn and pasture, and it derives a flavour which no culture or manthe superabundance of wine. But had this agement can equal, it is supposed, upon any superabundance been real, it would, without other. This flavour, real or imaginary, is any order of council, have effectually prevent- sometimes peculiar to the produce of a few ed the plantation of new vineyards, by reduc- vineyards; sometimes it extends through the ing the profits of this species of cultivation greater part of a small district, and sometimes below their natural proportion to those of corn through a considerable part of a large proand pasture. With regard to the supposed vince. The whole quantity of such wines scarcity of corn occasioned by the inultiplica- that is brought to market falls short of the ef tion of vineyards, corn is nowhere in France fectual demand, or the demand of those who ticular produce, is too small to supply the ef fectual demand. The whole produce can be disposed of to those who are willing to give somewhat more than what is sufficient to pay the whole rent, wages, and profit, necessary for raising and bringing it to market, accord The usual and natural proportion, for example, between the rent and profit of wine, and those of corn and pasture, must be understood to take place only with regard to those vineyards which produce nothing but good common wine, such as can be raised almost anywhere, upon any light, gravelly, or sandy soil, and which has nothing to recommend it but its strength and wholesomeness. It is with such vineyards only, that the common land of the country can be brought into competition; for with those of a peculiar quality it is evident that it cannot. would be willing to pay the whole rent, pro- | a rice or corn field either in Europe or Ame- The culti In Virginia and Maryland, the cultivation of tobacco is preferred, as most profitable, to The sugar colonies possessed by the Euro- that of corn. Tobacco might be cultivated pean nations in the West Indies may be com- with advantage through the greater part of pared to those precious vineyards. Their whole Europe; but, in almost every part of Europe, produce falls short of the effectual demand of it has become a principal subject of taxation; Europe, and can be disposed of to those who and to collect a tax from every different farm are willing to give more than what is suffici- in the country where this plant might happen ent to pay the whole rent, profit, and wages, to be cultivated, would be more difficult, it necessary for preparing and bringing it to has been supposed, than to levy one upon its market, according to the rate at which they importation at the custom-house. are commonly paid by any other produce. In vation of tobacco has, upon this account, been Cochin China, the finest white sugar general-most absurdly prohibited through the greater ly sells for three piastres the quintal, about part of Europe, which necessarily gives a sort thirteen shillings and sixpence of our money, of monopoly to the countries where it is allowas we are told by Mr Poivre, a very careful ed; and as Virginia and Maryland produce the observer of the agriculture of that country. greatest quantity of it, they share largely, What is there called the quintal, weighs from though with some competitors, in the advana hundred and fifty to two hundred Paris tage of this monopoly. The cultivation of topounds, or a hundred and seventy-five Paris bacco, however, seems not to be so advanta pounds at a medium, which reduces the price tageous as that of sugar. of the hundred weight English to about eight heard of any tobacco plantation that was imshillings sterling; not a fourth part of what proved and cultivated by the capital of meris commonly paid for the Lrown or muscova-chants who resided in Great Britain; ard our da sugars imported from our colonies, and tobacco colonies send us home no such weak not a sixth part of what is paid for the finest thy planters as we see frequently arrive from The greater part of the culti- our sugar islands. Though, from the prefervated lands in Cochin China are employed in ence given in those colonies to the cultivation producing corn and rice, the food of the great of tobacco above that of corn, it would appear body of the people. The respective prices of that the effectual demand of Europe for tocorn, rice, and sugar, are there probably in bacco is not completely supplied, it probably the natural proportion, or in that which natu- is more nearly so than that for sugar; and rally takes place in the different crops of the though the present price of tobacco is probably greater part of cultivated land, and which re-more than sufficient to pay the whole rent, compenses the landlord and farmer, as nearly wages, and profit, necessary for preparing and as can be computed, according to what is bringing it to market, according to the rate at usually the original expense of improvement, which they are commonly paid in corn land, and the annual expense of cultivation. But it must not be so much more as the present in our sugar colonies, the price of sugar bears price of sugar. Our tobacco planters, ac white sugar. I have never even no such proportion to that of the produce of cordingly, have shewn the same fear of the superabundance of tobacco, which the proprie tors of the old vineyards in France have of Voyages d'un Philosophe. the superabundance of wine. By act of as-bushels each, are said to be the ordinary pro sembly, they have restrained its cultivation to duce of an acre. six thousand plants, supposed to yield a thous- therefore, requires more labour, a much greatThough its cultivation, and weight of tobacco, for every negro be- er surplus remains after maintaining all that tween sixteen and sixty years of age. Such labour. In those rice countries, therefore, a negro, over and above this quantity of to- where rice is the common and favourite vege bacco, can manage, they reckon, four acres of table food of the people, and where the culti Indian corn. To prevent the market from vators are chiefly maintained with it, a greater being overstocked, too, they have sometimes, share of this greater surplus should belong to in plentiful years, we are told by Dr Dou- the landlord than in corn countries. glas (I suspect he has been ill informed), rolina, where the planters, as in other British In Caburnt a certain quantity of tobacco for every colonies, are generally both farmers and landnegro, in the same manner as the Dutch are lords, and where rent, consequently, is consaid to do of spices. If such violent methods founded with profit, the eultivation of rice is are necessary to keep up the present price of found to be more profitable than that of corn, tobacco, the superior advantage of its culture though their fields produce only one crop in over that of corn, if it still has any, will not the year, and though, from the prevalence of probably be of long continuance. the customs of Europe, rice is not there the common and favourite vegetable food of the people. It is in this manner that the rent of the cultivated land, of which the produce is human food, regulates the rent of the greater part of other cultivated land. No particular produce can long afford less, because the land would immediately be turned to another use; and if any particular produce commonly affords more, it is because the quantity of land which can be fitted for it is too small to supply the effectual demand. In Europe, corn is the principal produce of end, which serves immediately for human food. Except in particular situations, therefore, the rent of corn land regulates in Europe that of all other cultivated land. Britain need envy neither the vineyards of France, nor the olive plantations of Italy. Except in particular situations, the value of these is regulated by that of corn, in which the fertility of Britain is not much inferior to that of either of those two countries. A good rice field is a bog at all seasons, and at one season a bog covered with water. It is unfit either for corn, or pasture, or vineyard, or, indeed, for any other vegetable produce that is very useful to men; and the lands which are fit for those purposes are not fit for rice. Even in the rice countries, therefore, the rent of rice lands cannot regulate the rent of the other cultivated land which can never be turned to that produce. The food produced by a field of potatoes is not inferior in quantity to that produced by a field of rice, and much superior to what is produced by a field of wheat. Twelve thous and weight of potatoes from an acre of land is not a greater produce than two thousand weight of wheat. The food or solid nourishment, indeed, which can be drawn from each of those two plants, is not altogether in proIf, in any country, the common and favour- portion to their weight, on account of the waite vegetable food of the people should be tery nature of potatoes. Allowing, however, drawn from a plant, of which the most com- half the weight of this root to go to water, a mon land, with the same, or nearly the same very large allowance, such an acre of potatoes culture, produced a much greater quantity will still produce six thousand weight of solid than the most fertile does of corn; the rent of nourishment, three times the quantity prothe landlord, or the surplus quantity of food duced by the acre of wheat. which would remain to him, after paying the tatoes is cultivated with less expense than an An acre of polabour, and replacing the stock of the farmer, acre of wheat; the fallow, which generally together with its ordinary profits, would ne- precedes the sowing of wheat, more than com cessarily be much greater. Whatever was the pensating the hoeing and other extraordinary rate at which labour was commonly maintain-culture which is always given to potatoes. ed in that country, this greater surplus could | Should this root ever become in any part of always maintain a greater quantity of it, and, Europe, like rice in some rice countries, the consequently, enable the landlord to purchase common and favourite vegetable food of the or command a greater quantity of it. The real value of his rent, his real power and authority, his command of the necessaries and conveniencies of life with which the labour of other people could supply him, would necessarily be much greater. A rice field produces a much greater quantity of food than the most fertile corn field. Two crops in the year, from thirty to sixty • Douglas's Summary, vol. ii. p. 372, 378. people, so as to occupy the same proportion of the lands in tillage, which wheat and other sorts of grain for human food do at present, the same quantity of cultivated land would maintain a much greater number of people; and the labourers being generally fed with potatoes, a greater surplus would remain after replacing all the stock, and maintaining all the labour employed in cultivation. A greater share of this surplus, too, would belong to the landlord. Population would increase, and |