3. The productions of the earth require long and difficult
preparations, before they are rendered fit to supply the wants of
men.
The productions which the earth supplies to satisfy the
different wants of man, will not, for the most part, administer
to those wants, in the state nature affords them; it is necessary
they should undergo different operations, and be prepared by art.
Wheat must be converted into flour, then into bread; hides must
be dressed or tanned; wool and cotton must be spun; silk must be
taken from the cod; hemp and flax must be soaked, peeled, spun,
and wove into different textures; then cut and sewed together
again to make garments, etc. If the same man who cultivates on his
own land these different articles, and who raises them to supply
his wants, was obliged to perform all the intermediate operations
himself, it is certain he would succeed very badly. The greater
part of these preparations require care, attention, and a long
experience; all which are only to be acquired by progressive
labour, and that on a great quantity of materials. Let us refer,
for example, to the preparation of hides: what labourer can
pursue all the particular things necessary to those operations,
which continue several months, sometimes several years? If he is
able to do it, can he do it with a single hide? What a loss of
time, of room, and of materials, which might be employed, either
at the same time or successively, to tan a large quantity of
skins! But should he even succeed in manning a single skin, and
wants one pair of shoes, what will he do with the remainder? Will
he kill an ox to make this pair of shoes? Will he cut down a tree
to make a pair of wooden shoes? We may say the same thing of
every other want of every other man, who, if he was reduced to
his field, and the labour of his own hands, would waste much
time, take much trouble, be very badly equipped in every respect,
and would also cultivate his lands very ill.
