CAROLINE

FROM what you said in our last conversation I perceive that agriculture yields two distinct incomes; one to the proprietor, the other to the cultivator of the land.

MRS. B.

And it employs also two capitals to produce those incomes ; the one to purchase, the other to cultivate the land. A man who lays out money in the purchase of land becomes a landed proprietor, and obtains a revenue in the form of rent. He who lays out capital in the cultivation of land, becomes a farmer, and obtains a revenue in the form of produce.

CAROLINE

What do you mean by the capital of the former, Mrs. B.? I thought that the land was the capital from which he derived his profits.

MRS. B

You mistake; the land is the capital of its proprietor, and as such yields him a revenue; whatever the farmer obtains from it, is derived from cultivation; that is to say, from the labour and expense he bestows on the soil. The land is the machine with which he fabricates agricultural produce, and the income he derives from it is the revenue of the capital employed in working this machine. A farmer requires capital to pay his labourers, and to purchase his farming-stock, such as cattle, waggons, ploughs, &c. It is the bare land and the farming buildings which he rents. The crops which are upon the ground when the agreement is made are paid for independantly, and become the property of the farmer. Unless therefore he has a capital to defray these expenses, he cannot take the lease of a farm.