Notes on the natural limits to occupation on the land

The number of persons that may be employed upon the land varies with the country, with the form of cultivation, and with the degree of civilisation. But whatever the civilisation may be, there are natural limits to occupation on the land which bar the introduction of more than a certain number. The natural conditions which principally determine these limits are: — (a.) The total extent of land surface of the particular country, (b.) The degree of fertility and the extent of land open to hunting wild animals, or gathering natural vegetable roots or fruits ; cultivation for pasturage only ; cultivation for either crops or pasturage, (c.) Knowledge and capital as factors in determining and employing the best methods for extracting the greatest amount of produce from a definite area, (d.) The absolute number of hands necessary to cultivate a given area in any form, beyond which limit human labour is wasted in fruitless effort or in positive idleness. (e.) The proportion of cultivable area already occupied. If, in addition, we employ the indices m, e, and n as indicating maximum, medium, and minimum of each condition, we may express by simple formulae the conditions which determine the largest (Dm) and smallest (Dn) number of hands which can find occupation on the land ; always assuming that their time is wholly occupied within the field of their own division of labour.