Thoughitmaycostnomorelabourtocultivatetheonethantheother，itmustalwayscostmoretobringtheproduceofthedistantlandtomarket。Agreaterquantityoflabour，therefore，mustbemaintainedoutofit;andthesurplus，fromwhicharedrawnboththeprofitofthefarmerandtherentofthelandlord，mustbediminished。Butinremotepartsofthecountrytherateofprofits，ashasalreadybeenshown，isgenerallyhigherthanintheneighbourhoodofalargetown。Asmallerproportionofthisdiminishedsurplus，therefore，mustbelongtothelandlord。
Goodroads，canals，andnavigablerivers，bydiminishingtheexpenseofcarriage，puttheremotepartsofthecountrymorenearlyuponalevelwiththoseintheneighbourhoodofthetown。
Theyareuponthataccountthegreatestofallimprovements。Theyencouragethecultivationoftheremote，whichmustalwaysbethemostextensivecircleofthecountry。Theyareadvantageoustothetown，bybreakingdownthemonopolyofthecountryinitsneighbourhood。Theyareadvantageouseventothatpartofthecountry。Thoughtheyintroducesomerivalcommoditiesintotheoldmarket，theyopenmanynewmarketstoitsproduce。Monopoly，besides，isagreatenemytogoodmanagement，whichcanneverbeuniversallyestablishedbutinconsequenceofthatfreeanduniversalcompetitionwhichforceseverybodytohaverecoursetoitforthesakeofself—defence。ItisnotmorethanfiftyyearsagothatsomeofthecountiesintheneighbourhoodofLondonpetitionedtheParliamentagainsttheextensionoftheturnpikeroadsintotheremotercounties。Thoseremotercounties，theypretended，fromthecheapnessoflabour，wouldbeabletoselltheirgrassandcorncheaperintheLondonmarketthanthemselves，andwouldtherebyreducetheirrents，andruintheircultivation。Theirrents，however，haverisen，andtheircultivationhasbeenimprovedsincethattime。
Acornfieldofmoderatefertilityproducesamuchgreaterquantityoffoodformanthanthebestpastureofequalextent。
Thoughitscultivationrequiresmuchmorelabour，yetthesurpluswhichremainsafterreplacingtheseedandmaintainingallthatlabour，islikewisemuchgreater。Ifapoundofbutcher’smeat，therefore，wasneversupposedtobeworthmorethanapoundofbread，thisgreatersurpluswouldeverywherebeofgreatervalue，andconstituteagreaterfundbothfortheprofitofthefarmerandtherentofthelandlord。Itseemstohavedonesouniversallyintherudebeginningsofagriculture。