result of them must be false。 We see every day the most splendid
fortunes that have been acquired in the course of a single life
by trade and manufacturers； frequently from a very small capital；
sometimes from no capital。 A single instance of such a fortune
acquired by agriculture in the same time； and from such a
capital； has not； perhaps； occurred in Europe during the course
of the present century。 In all the great countries of Europe；
however； much good land still remains uncultivated； and the
greater part of what is cultivated is far from being improved to
the degree of which it is capable。 Agriculture； therefore； is
almost everywhere capable of absorbing a much greater capital
than has ever yet been employed in it。 What circumstances in the
policy of Europe have given the trades which are carried on in
towns so great an advantage over that which is carried on in the
country that private persons frequently find it more for their
advantage to employ their capitals in the most distant carrying
trades of Asia and America than in the improvement and
cultivation of the most fertile fields in their own
neighbourhood； I shall endeavour to explain at full length in the
two following books。