THE WEALTH OF NATIONS.

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portant improvements which the agriculture of Europe , per-haps, which Europe itself, has received from the great exten-sion of its commerce and navigation. Many sorts of vegeta-ble food, besides, which in the rude state of agriculture areconfined to the kitchen-garden, and raised only by the spade,come in its improved state to be introduced into commonfields, and to be raised by the plough: such as turnips, car-rots, cabbages, See. If in the progress of improvement, there-fore, the real price of one species of food necessarily rises,that of another as necessarily falls, and it becomes a matterof more nicety to judge how far the rise in the one may becompensated by the fall in the other. When the real priceof butcher’s meat has once got to its height (which, with re-gard to every sort, except, perhaps, that of hog’s flesh, it seemsto have done through a great part of England more than acentury ago), any rise which can afterward happen in thatof any other sort of animal food cannot much affect the cir-cumstances of the inferior ranks of people. The circum-stances of the poor through a great part of England cannotsurely be so much distressed by any rise in the price of poul-try, fish, wild-fowl, or venison, as they must be relieved bythe fall in that of potatoes.

In the present season of scarcity the high price of corn nodoubt distresses the poor. But in times of moderate plenty,when corn is at its ordinary or average price, the natural risein the price of any other sort of rude produce cannot much af-fect them. They suffer more, perhaps, by the artificial risewhich has been occasioned by taxes in the price of some ma-nufactured commodities ; as of salt, soap, leather, candles,malt, beer, ale, See.

Effects of the Progress of Improvement upon the realPrice of Manufactures.

It is the natural effect of improvement, however, to dimi-nish gradually the real price of almost all manufactures.That of the manufacturing workmanship diminishes, perhaps,in all of them without exception. In consequence of bettermachinery, of greater dexterity, and of a more proper divisionand distribution of work, all of which are the natural effectsof improvement, a much smaller quantity of labour becomesrequisite for executing any particular piece of work ; andthough in consequence of the flourishing circumstances ofthe society, the real price of labour should rise very consider-