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soil  in  our  scientific  wonderland  is  of  four
different  qualities,  viz.,  A,  B,  C,  and  D,
and  that  A  produce  60  bushels  an  acre,  and
B,  C,  and  D,  50,  35,  and  15  bushels  respectively. ­
  Under  these  conditions,  were  population ­
  very  scanty,  only  a  part  of  land  A  would
be  cultivated,  and  no  land  of  a  lower  quality,
since  a  sufficiency  of  food  could  be  obtained
without  recourse  to  any  inferior  land.  It
goes  without  saying  that,  other  things  being
equal,  the  best  land  would  be  occupied  first,
providing  it  was  known  to  be  the  best.  In
these  circumstances  no  rent,  or  no  appreciable
rent,  would  be  paid  for  land,  on  the  assumption
that  the  whole  of  the  land,  or  at  any  rate
the  whole  of  the  best  land,  was  not  in  the
hands  of  a  monopolist  person  or  group.
If  it  were  in  the  hands  of  a  monopolist,  he
could  insist  on  some  payment  for  its  use,
and  possibly  a  high  payment,  inasmuch  as
people  deprived  of  all  fruits  of  the  earth
would  be  unable  to  get  satisfactory  sustenance.
In  the  absence  of  monopoly,  however,  no
appreciable  rent  would  be  possible,  if  we  mean
by  rent  a  payment  for  land  and  nothing  but
land.  The  competition  of  the  owners  of
plots  still  untouched,  though  equal  in  fertility
to  those  already  ministering  to  the  wants
of  man,  would  prevent  the  owners  of  the