transported to so great a distance as those of 
clothing, and do not so readily become an object 
of foreign commerce. When they are 
superabundant in the country which produces 
them, it frequently happens, even in the present 
commercial state of the world, that they 
are of no value to the landlord. A good stone 
quarry in the neighbourhood of London would 
afford a considerable rent. In many parts of 
Scotland and Wales it affords none. Barren 
timber for building is of great value in a populous 
and well-cultivated country, and the 
land which produces it affords a considerable 
rent. But in many parts of North America
the landlord would be much obliged to any 
body who would carry away the greater part 
of his large trees. In some parts of the Highlands 
of Scotland, the bark is the only part of 
the wood which, for want of roads and water-carriage
can be sent to market; the timber is 
left to rot upon the ground. When the materials 
of lodging are so superabundant, the 
part made use of is worth only the labour and 
expense of fitting it for that use. It affords 
no rent to the landlord, who generally grants 
the use of it to whoever takes the trouble of 
asking it. The demand of wealthier nations, 
however, sometimes enables him to get a rent 
for it. The paving of the streets of London 
has enabled the owners of some barren rocks 
on the coast of Scotland to draw a rent from 
what never afforded any before. The woods 
of Norway, and of the coasts of the Baltic
find a market in many parts of Great Britain, 
which they could not find at home, and thereby 
afford some rent to their proprietors
Countries are populous, not in proportion 
to the number of people whom their produce 
can clothe and lodge, but in proportion to that 
of those whom it can feed. When food is 
provided, it is easy to find the necessary clothing 
and lodging. But though these are at 
hand, it may often be difficult to find food
In some parts of the British dominions, what 
is called a house may be built by one day's 
labour of one man. The simplest species of 
clothing, the skins of animals, require somewhat 
more labour to dress and prepare them 
for use. They do not, however, require
great deal. Among savage or barbarous nations
a hundredth, or little more than a hundredth 
part of the labour of the whole year
will be sufficient to provide them with such 
clothing and lodging as satisfy the greater 
part of the people. All the other ninety-nine 
parts are frequently no more than enough to 
provide them with food
But when, by the improvement and cultivation 
of land, the labour of one family can 
provide food for two, the labour of half the 
society becomes sufficient to provide food for 
the whole. The other half, therefore, or at 
least the greater part of them, can be employed 
in providing other things, or in satisfying 
the other wants and fancies of mankind. 
Clothing and lodging, household furniture
and what is called equipage, are the principal 
objects of the greater part of those wants and 
fancies. The rich man consumes no more 
food than his poor neighbour. In quality it 
may be very different, and to select and prepare 
it may require more labour and art
but in quantity it is very nearly the same. 
But compare the spacious palace and great 
wardrobe of the one, with the hovel and the 
few rags of the other, and you will be sensible 
that the difference between their clothing
lodging, and household furniture, is almost as 
great in quantity as it is in quality. The desire 
of food is limited in every man by the 
narrow capacity of the human stomach; but 
the desire of the conveniencies and ornaments 
of building, dress, equipage, and household 
furniture, seems to have no limit or certain 
boundary. Those, therefore, who have the 
command of more food than they themselves 
can consume, are always willing to exchange 
the surplus, or, what is the same thing, the 
price of it, for gratifications of this other kind
What is over and above satisfying the limited 
desire, is given for the amusement of those 
desires which cannot be satisfied, but seem to 
be altogether endless. The poor, in order to 
obtain food, exert themselves to gratify those 
fancies of the rich; and to obtain it more certainly, 
they vie with one another in the cheapness 
and perfection of their work. The number 
of workmen increases with the increasing 
quantity of food, or with the growing improvement 
and cultivation of the lands; and as the 
nature of their business admits of the utmost 
subdivisions of labour, the quantity of materials 
which they can work up, increases in a 
much greater proportion than their numbers
Hence arises a demand for every sort of material 
which human invention can employ, 
either usefully or ornamentally, in building
dress, equipage, or household furniture; for 
the fossils and minerals contained in the bowels 
of the earth, the precious metals, and the 
precious stones
Food is, in this manner, not only the original 
source of rent, but every other part of the 
produce of land which afterwards affords rent
derives that part of its value from the improvement 
of the powers of labour in producing 
food, by means of the improvement 
and cultivation of land
Those other parts of the produce of land
however, which afterwards afford rent, do not 
afford it always. Even in improved and cultivated 
countries, the demand for them is not 
always such as to afford a greater price than 
what is sufficient to pay the labour, and replace
together with its ordinary profits, the 
stock which must be employed in bringing 
them to market. Whether it is or is not such, 
depends upon different circumstances