The great advantage of capital is that it enables us to do work in the least laborious way. If a man wants to convey water from a well to his house, and has very little capital, he can only get a bucket and carry every bucket-full separately; this is very laborious. If he has more capital, he can get a barrel and wheel it on a barrow, which takes off a large part of the weight; thus he saves much labour by the labour spent upon the barrel and barrow. If he has still more capital his best way will be to make a canal, or channel, or even to lay a metal pipe all the way from the well to his house; this costs a great deal of labour at the time, but, when once it is made, the water will perhaps run down by its own weight, and all the rest of his life he will be saved from the trouble of carrying water. #34. Fixed and Circulating Capitals.# Capital is usually said to be either fixed or circulating capital, and we ought to learn very thoroughly the difference between these two kinds. #Fixed capital# consists of factories, machines, tools, ships, railways, docks, carts, carriages, and other things, which last a long time, and assist work. It does not include, indeed, all kinds of fixed property. Churches, monuments, pictures, books, ornamental trees, &c., last a long time, but they are not fixed capital, because they are not used to help us in producing new wealth. They may do good, and give pleasure, and they form a part of the wealth of the kingdom; but they are not capital according to the usual employment of the name. #Circulating capital consists of the food, clothes, fuel, and other things which are required to support labourers while they are engaged in productive work.# It is called circulating because it does not last long; potatoes and cabbages are eaten up, and a new supply has to be grown; clothes wear out in a few months or a year, and new ones have to be bought. The circulating capital, which is in the country now, is not the same circulating capital which was in the country two years ago. But the fixed capital is nearly the same: some factories may have been burnt or pulled down; some machines may have become worn out, and have been replaced by new ones. But these changes in fixed capital are comparatively few; whereas the whole or nearly the whole of the circulating capital is changed every year or two.