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The lands of no country, it is evident, can ever be completely

cultivated and improved, till once the price of every produce,

which human industry is obliged to raise upon them, has got so

high as to pay for the expense of complete improvement and

cultivation. In order to do this, the price of each particular

produce must be sufficient, first, to pay the rent of good corn

land, as it is that which regulates the rent of the greater part

of other cultivated land; and, secondly, to pay the labour and

expense of the farmer, as well as they are commonly paid upon

good corn land; or, in other words, to replace with the ordinary

profits the stock which he employs about it. This rise in the

price of each particular produce; must evidently be previous to

the improvement and cultivation of the land which is destined for

raising it. Gain is the end of all improvement; and nothing could

deserve that name, of which loss was to be the necessary

consequence.