Key Arguments

• Smith notes that 'A corn field of moderate fertility produces a much greater quantity of food for man, than the best pasture of equal extent,' and although it 'requires much more labour,' the surplus after replacing seed and labour is 'likewise much greater.'
• If 'a pound of butcher’s meat… was never supposed to be worth more than a pound of bread,' this greater surplus of corn would 'everywhere be of greater value and constitute a greater fund, both for the profit of the farmer and the rent of the landlord,' which 'seems to have done so universally in the rude beginnings of agriculture.'
• In those beginnings 'the unimproved wilds, which then occupy the far greater part of the country, are all abandoned to cattle. There is more butcher’s meat than bread; and bread, therefore, is the food for which there is the greatest competition, and which consequently brings the greatest price.'
• He illustrates with Buenos Ayres, where 'four reals, one-and-twenty pence halfpenny sterling, was, forty or fifty years ago, the ordinary price of an ox, chosen from a herd of two or three hundred,' and 'An ox there, he says, costs little more than the labour of catching him,' whereas 'corn can nowhere be raised without a great deal of labour.'
• When 'cultivation is extended over the greater part of the country,' the situation reverses: 'There is then more bread than butcher’s meat. The competition changes its direction, and the price of butcher’s meat becomes greater than the price of bread.'
• As cultivation expands, 'the unimproved wilds become insufficient to supply the demand for butcher’s meat. A great part of the cultivated lands must be employed in rearing and fattening cattle,' so their price must cover 'the rent which the landlord, and the profit which the farmer, could have drawn from such land employed in tillage.'
• Cattle from 'the most uncultivated moors, when brought to the same market, are, in proportion to their weight or goodness, sold at the same price as those which are reared upon the most improved land,' allowing proprietors of moors to 'profit by it, and raise the rent of their land in proportion to the price of their cattle.'
• He notes that 'in many parts of the Highlands of Scotland, butcher’s meat was as cheap or cheaper than even bread made of oatmeal' about a century earlier, but after 'The Union opened the market of England to the Highland cattle,' their ordinary price and Highland rents have tripled or quadrupled, and now 'a pound of the best butcher’s meat is… generally worth more than two pounds of the best white bread.'

Source Quotes

It seems to have done so universally in the rude beginnings of agriculture. But the relative values of those two different species of food, bread and butcher’s meat, are very different in the different periods of agriculture. In its rude beginnings, the unimproved wilds, which then occupy the far greater part of the country, are all abandoned to cattle.

But the relative values of those two different species of food, bread and butcher’s meat, are very different in the different periods of agriculture. In its rude beginnings, the unimproved wilds, which then occupy the far greater part of the country, are all abandoned to cattle. There is more butcher’s meat than bread; and bread, therefore, is the food for which there is the greatest competition, and which consequently brings the greatest price.

In its rude beginnings, the unimproved wilds, which then occupy the far greater part of the country, are all abandoned to cattle. There is more butcher’s meat than bread; and bread, therefore, is the food for which there is the greatest competition, and which consequently brings the greatest price. At Buenos Ayres, we are told by Ulloa, four reals, one-and-twenty pence halfpenny sterling, was, forty or fifty years ago, the ordinary price of an ox, chosen from a herd of two or three hundred.

He says nothing of the price of bread, probably because he found nothing remarkable about it. An ox there, he says, costs little more than the labour of catching him. But corn can nowhere be raised without a great deal of labour; and in a country which lies upon the river Plate, at that time the direct road from Europe to the silver mines of Potosi, the money-price of labour could be very cheap. It is otherwise when cultivation is extended over the greater part of the country.

It is otherwise when cultivation is extended over the greater part of the country. There is then more bread than butcher’s meat. The competition changes its direction, and the price of butcher’s meat becomes greater than the price of bread. By the extension, besides, of cultivation, the unimproved wilds become insufficient to supply the demand for butcher’s meat.

A great part of the cultivated lands must be employed in rearing and fattening cattle; of which the price, therefore, must be sufficient to pay, not only the labour necessary for tending them, but the rent which the landlord, and the profit which the farmer, could have drawn from such land employed in tillage. The cattle bred upon the most uncultivated moors, when brought to the same market, are, in proportion to their weight or goodness, sold at the same price as those which are reared upon the most improved land. The proprietors of those moors profit by it, and raise the rent of their land in proportion to the price of their cattle.

The Union opened the market of England to the Highland cattle. Their ordinary price, at present, is about three times greater than at the beginning of the century, and the rents of many Highland estates have been tripled and quadrupled in the same time. In almost every part of Great Britain, a pound of the best butcher’s meat is, in the present times, generally worth more than two pounds of the best white bread; and in plentiful years it is sometimes worth three or four pounds.

Their ordinary price, at present, is about three times greater than at the beginning of the century, and the rents of many Highland estates have been tripled and quadrupled in the same time. In almost every part of Great Britain, a pound of the best butcher’s meat is, in the present times, generally worth more than two pounds of the best white bread; and in plentiful years it is sometimes worth three or four pounds. It is thus that, in the progress of improvement, the rent and profit of unimproved pasture come to be regulated in some measure by the rent and profit of what is improved, and these again by the rent and profit of corn.

Key Concepts

• the relative values of those two different species of food, bread and butcher’s meat, are very different in the different periods of agriculture.
• In its rude beginnings, the unimproved wilds, which then occupy the far greater part of the country, are all abandoned to cattle.
• There is more butcher’s meat than bread; and bread, therefore, is the food for which there is the greatest competition, and which consequently brings the greatest price.
• An ox there, he says, costs little more than the labour of catching him. But corn can nowhere be raised without a great deal of labour;
• There is then more bread than butcher’s meat. The competition changes its direction, and the price of butcher’s meat becomes greater than the price of bread.
• The cattle bred upon the most uncultivated moors, when brought to the same market, are, in proportion to their weight or goodness, sold at the same price as those which are reared upon the most improved land.
• the rents of many Highland estates have been tripled and quadrupled in the same time.
• In almost every part of Great Britain, a pound of the best butcher’s meat is, in the present times, generally worth more than two pounds of the best white bread;

Context

In the middle of Part I, Smith traces how the progress of cultivation alters the relative scarcity and prices of bread and meat, using examples from Buenos Ayres and the Scottish Highlands to show how this shifts the pattern and level of rents on pasture and cultivated land.