e three following things:--

(1) #Land#,
(2) #Labour#,
(3) #Capital#.

In production we bring these things together; we apply labour to the
land, and we employ the capital in assisting the labourer with tools,
and feeding him while he is engaged on the work. We must now proceed to
consider each of the three requisites in succession.

#17. Land or Source of Materials.# The word #production# is a very good
one; it means #drawing forth# (Latin, _pro_, before, and _ducere_, to
draw), and it thus exactly expresses the fact that, when we want to
create wealth, we have to go to some piece of land, or to some lake,
river, or sea, and draw forth the substance which is to be made into
wealth. It does not matter whether the material comes from the surface
of the earth, or from mines and quarries sunk into the earth, or from
seas and oceans. Our food mostly grows upon the land, as in the case of
corn, potatoes, cattle, game, &c.; our clothes are chiefly made of
cotton, flax, wool, skins, raised in like manner. Minerals and metals
are obtained by sinking pits and mines into the crust of the earth.
Rivers, lakes, seas, and oceans are no slight source of wealth: they
yield food, oil, whalebone, sealskin, &c. We cannot manufacture any
goods unless we have some matter to work upon; to make a pin we must get
copper, zinc, and tin out of mines; a ribbon requires the silk and the
dye materials; everything that we touch, and use, and eat, and drink,
contains substance, so that we must always begin by finding a supply of
the right sort of materials.

Commonly, too, we want something more than matter; we want force which
shall help us to carry and work the raw material. People naturally wish
to avoid tiring themselves by labouring with their own arms and legs,
and so they make windmills to grind corn, ships to carry goods,
steam-engines to pump water and to do all sorts of hard work. From the
earth, or, as we say, from Nature, we obtain both the materials of
wealth and the force which helps us to turn the materials into wealth.
Whatever thus furnishes us with the first requisite of production is
called a #natural agent#, that is, something which acts for us and
assists us (Latin, _agens_, acting). Among natural agents #land# is by
far the most important, because, when supplied with abundant sunlight
and, moisture, it may be cultivated and made to yield all kinds of
crops. Accordingly, economists often speak of land, when their remarks