rth's surface, as
we know, has hills and valleys: there are flats of rich soil in one
place, and wastes of dry sand and stones in other places. Now, where the
soil is good and favourably situated for growing corn, or other produce,
the owner of such land must get more, in return for his labour, than if
he possessed a bad piece of land. Even then, if everybody owned the farm
which he cultivates, those who owned the better pieces would get rent,
because they would get more produce. Thus, after allowing the same
wages to all, there would remain something in addition to the lucky
owners of the better land. If, instead of working on this good land
themselves, they let it to other workmen, they will be able to get a
rent depending on the richness and the other advantages of the land.

Now there can be little difficulty in seeing how the amount of rent of
land is governed. That land will pay no rent at all which only gives
produce enough to pay the wages of the labourers who work upon it,
together with the interest of any capital which they require. The rent
of better land will then consist of the surplus of its produce over that
of the poorest cultivated land, after allowance has been made for the
greater or less amount of labour and capital expended on it. Or we may
look at the matter in this way: The price of corn is decided by the cost
of producing it on land which just pays the expenses of cultivation,
because when more corn is needed, it is from such land we must procure
it, the better land having been long since occupied. But corn of the
same quality sells at the same price whatever be its cost of production;
hence the rent of more fertile land will be the excess of the price of
its produce over that of land which only just pays the cultivator and
leaves no rent.

CHAPTER XI.

EXCHANGE.

#70. How Exchange Arises#. One of the most important ways in which we
can increase wealth consists in exchange--#in giving what we do not want
in return for what we do want#. Wealth, as we have seen, is anything
which is actually useful to us, because we have not enough already, and
which can be transferred to another person. But when our want of any
kind of commodity is satisfied, we want no more of that, but we do want
other kinds of commodity. The result is that exchange constantly
produces a #gain of utility#. Some people have objected that there can
be no good in exchange, because that which is given equals in value tha