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The rent of land, it may be thought, is frequently no more than a

reasonable profit or interest for the stock laid out by the

landlord upon its improvement. This, no doubt, may be partly the

case upon some occasions; for it can scarce ever be more than

partly the case. The landlord demands a rent even for unimproved

land, and the supposed interest or profit upon the expense of

improvement is generally an addition to this original rent. Those

improvements, besides, are not always made by the stock of the

landlord, but sometimes by that of the tenant. When the lease

comes to be renewed, however, the landlord commonly demands the

same augmentation of rent as if they had been all made by his

own.