ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates that although the order in which agricultural lands are taken up has little relevance for the static treatment of agriculture, the order in which mines are exploited has great significance for the economic theory of exhaustible resources. It deals with Henry Carey's objection to the Ricardian hypothesis that the natural order of events is for the most fertile agricultural lands to be cultivated first. The chapter explains with Carey's analysis of the historical progress of the mineral industries. It considers Carey's brief analysis of mineral rent and discusses some critiques of the Carey argument regarding the historical development of agriculture. In time, the development of capital stock and growing population brought with them the capability of unlocking the highly fertile soils of the low lands which were heavily wooded and difficult of access. Once a mining industry has been established in the new land it will, like agriculture, be subject to historically increasing returns.
