For the sake of shortness we call all this bundle of natural forces (which are the very first essential to the making of wealth) “LAND.” This word “Land” is only a conventional term in Economics, meant to include a vast number of things beside the soil: things which are not Land at all; for instance, water power and wind power, the fertility of seed, the force of electricity, and thousands of other natural energies. But we must have some short convenient term for this set of things, and the term “Land” having become the conventional term in Economic Science for all natural forces, it is now the useful and short word always used for them as a whole: the reason being, I suppose, that land, or soil, is the first natural requisite for food--the most important of man’s requirements, and the _place_ from which he uses all other natural forces. We say, then, that for the production of wealth the first thing you need is the natural forces of the world, or “Land.” 2. LABOUR. But we next note that this possession of natural forces, our knowledge of how they will work, and our power of combining them, _is not enough to produce wealth_. If the farmer were to stand still, satisfied with his knowledge of the fertility of the soil, the quality of seed, and all the rest of it, he would have no harvest. He must, as we have said, prepare the land and sow the seed: only so will he get a harvest at the end of his work. These operations of human energy which end in his getting his harvest are called “LABOUR”: that is, _the application of human energy to natural forces_. There are no conditions whatsoever under which wealth can be produced without natural forces or “land;” but there are also no conditions whatsoever under which it can be produced without “labour,” that is, the use of human energy. Even if a man were in such a position that he could get his food by picking it off the trees, there would still be the effort required of picking it. We say, therefore, _that all wealth comes from the combination of LAND and LABOUR: That is_, of _natural forces_ and _human energy_. 3. CAPITAL. At first sight it looks as though these two elements, Land and Labour, were all that was needed; and a very great deal of trouble has been caused in the world by people jumping to this conclusion without further examination. But if we look closely into the matter we shall see that Land and Labour alone are _not_ sufficient to the production of wealth in any appreciable amount. The moment man begins to produce wealth in any special fashion and to any appreciable extent, a third element comes in which is as rigorously necessary as the two others; and that third element is called CAPITAL. Let us see what this word “CAPITAL” means.