THE WEALTH OE NATIONS.

789

The tithe, and every other land-tax of this kind, under theappearance of perfect equality, are very unequal taxes; acertain portion of the produce being, in different situations,equivalent to a very different portion of the rent. In somevery rich lands the produce is so great, that the one half ofit is fully sufficient to replace to the farmer his capital em-ployed in cultivation, together with the ordinary profits offarming stock, in the neighbourhood. The other half, or,what comes to the same thing, the value of the other half, hecould afford to pay as rent to the landlord, if there was notithe. But if a tenth of the produce is taken from him inthe way of tithe, he must require an abatement of the fifthpart of his rent, otherwise he cannot get back his capital withthe ordinary profit. In this case the rent of the landlord, in-stead of amounting to a half, or five-tenths of the whole pro-duce, will amount only to four-tenths of it. In poorer lands,on the contrary, the produce is sometimes so small, and theexpense of cultivation so great, that it requires four-fifths ofthe whole produce, to replace to the farmer his capital withthe ordinary profit. In this case, though there was no tithe,the rent of the landlord could amount to no more than one-fiftli or two-tenths of the whole produce. But if the farmerpays one-tenth of the produce in the way of tithe, he mustrequire an equal abatement of the rent of the landlord, whichwill thus be reduced to one-tenth only of the whole produce.Upon the rent, of rich lands, the tithe may sometimes be atax of no more than one-fifth part, or four shillings in thepound; whereas upon that of poorer lands, it may sometimesbe a tax of one half, or of ten shillings in the pound.

The tithe, as it is frequently a very unequal tax upon therent, so it is always a great discouragement both to the im-provements of the landlord and to the cultivation of thefarmer. The one cannot venture to make the most import-ant, which are generally the most expensive improvements ;nor the other to raise the most valuable, which are generallytoo the most expensive crops : when the church, which laysout no part of the expense, is to share so very largely in theprofit. The cultivation of madder was for a long time con-fined by the tithe to the United Provinces , which, being Pres-byterian countries, and upon that account exempted from thisdestructive tax, enjoyed a sort of monopoly of that usefuldying drug against the rest of Europe . The late attempts tointroduce the culture of this plant into England have been