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In an improved and cultivated country, therefore, their interest

as landlords and farmers cannot be much affected by such

regulations, though their interest as consumers may, by the rise

in the price of provisions. It would be quite otherwise, however,

in an unimproved and uncultivated country, where the greater part

of the lands could be applied to no other purpose but the feeding

of cattle, and where the wool and the hide made the principal

part of the value of those cattle. Their interest as landlords

and farmers would in this case be very deeply affected by such

regulations, and their interest as consumers very little. The

fall in the price of the wool and the hide would not in this case

raise the price of the carcase; because the greater part of the

lands of the country being applicable to no other purpose but the

feeding of cattle, the same number would still continue to be

fed. The same quantity of butcher's meat would still come to

market.