And now let us turn from Harry’s case to the case of Tom and Dick. They have been accustomed to precisely the same standard of living as he has been; and they require for their support precisely the same amount of produce. But each day, after they have all of them fared alike, each taking the same quantity from his own particular basket, the baskets of Tom and Dick present a different appearance to that of Harry. There is in each of the two first a something which is not to be found in his. There is a surplus. In Dick’s basket there are three extra loaves remaining; and in Tom’s basket there are six. To what then is the production of these extra loaves due? Is it due to land, or is it due to the exertions of Tom and Dick? Mill, as we have seen, would tell us that this was an unmeaning question; but we shall soon see that it is not so. [Sidenote ◆1 But whatever is beyond this is the product not of Labour, but of Land;] It is perfectly true that it would be an unmeaning question if we had to do with one of the brothers only—say with Harry, and only with Harry’s field. Then, no doubt, it would be impossible to say which produced most—Harry or the furrows tilled by him,—whether Harry produced two loaves and the furrows seven, or Harry seven and the furrows two. And as to Harry’s case more must be said than this. Such a calculation with regard to it would be not only impossible, but useless; for even if we convinced ourselves that the land produced seven loaves, and Harry’s exertion only two, all the loaves would still of necessity go to Harry. In a case like this, therefore, it is quite sufficient to take account of Human Exertion only. Agricultural labour, in fact, must be held to produce whatever product is necessary for the customary maintenance of the labourer. ◆¹ But if this is the entire product obtained from the worst soil cultivated, it cannot be the entire product obtained from the best soil; and the moment we have to deal with a second field,—a field which is of a different quality, and which, although it is of exactly the same size, and is cultivated every day with precisely similar labour, yields to that labour a larger number of loaves,—twelve loaves, or fifteen loaves, instead of nine,—then our position altogether changes. We are not only able, but obliged to consider Land as well as Labour, and to discriminate between their respective products. A calculation which was before as unmeaning as Mill declares it to be, not only becomes intelligible, but is forced on us. [Sidenote ◆1 As we shall see by comparing the case of the man tilling the best field with that of the man tilling the worst.]