TOBACCO IN AMERICA.
We do not find in any accounts of the English voyagers made previous
to 1584, any mention of the discovery of tobacco, or its use among the
Indians. This may appear a little strange, as Captains Amidas and
Barlow, who sailed from England under the auspices of Sir Walter
Raleigh in 1584, on returning from Virginia, had brought home with
them pearls and tobacco among other curiosities. But while we have no
account of those who returned from the voyage made in 1602 taking any
tobacco with them, it is altogether probable that those who remained
took a lively interest in the plant and the Indian mode of use; for we
find that in nine years after they landed at Jamestown tobacco had
become quite an article of culture and commerce.
Hamo in alluding to the early cultivation of tobacco by the colony,
says, that John Rolfe was the pioneer tobacco planter. In his words:
"I may not forget the gentleman worthie of much
commendations, which first took the pains to make triall
thereof, his name Mr. John Rolfe, Anno Domini 1612, partly
for the love he hath a long time borne unto it, and partly
to raise commodities to the adventurers, in whose behalfe I
intercede and vouchsafe to hold my testimony in beleefe that
during the time of his aboade there, which draweth neere
sixe years no man hath laboured to his power there, and
worthy incouragement unto England, by his letters than he
hath done, witness his marriage with Powhatan's daughter one
of rude education, manners barbarous, and cursed generation
merely for the good and honor of the plantation."
[Illustration: John Rolfe.]
The first general planting of tobacco by the colony began according to
this writer--
"at West and Sherley Hundred (seated on the north side of
the river, lower than the Bermudas three or four myles)
where are twenty-five commanded by capten Maddeson--who are
imployed onely in planting and curing tobacco."
This was in 1616, when the colony numbered only three hundred and
fifty-one persons. Rolfe, in his relation of the state of Virginia,
written and addressed to the King, gives the following description of
the condition of the colony in 1616:
"Now that your highness may with the more ease understand in
what condition the colony standeth, I have briefly sett
downe the manner of all men's several imployments, the
number of them, and the several places of their aboad, which
places or seates are all our owne ground, not so much by
conquest, which the Indians hold a just and lawfull title,
but purchased of them freely, and they verie willingly
selling it. The places which are now possessed and inhabited
are sixe:--Henrico and the lymitts, Bermuda Nether hundred,
West and Sherley hundred, James Towne, Kequoughtan, and
Dales-Gift. The generall mayne body of the planters are
divided into Officers, Laborers, Farmors.
"The officers have the charge and care as well over the
farmors as laborers generallie--that they watch and ward for
their preservacions; and that both the one and the other's
busines may be daily followed to the performance of those
imployments, which from the one are required, and the other
by covenant are bound unto. These officers are bound to
maintayne themselves and families with food and rayment by
their owne and their servant's industrie. The laborers are
of two sorts. Some employed onely in the generall works, who
are fedd and clothed out of the store--others, specially
artificers as smiths, carpenters, shoemakers, taylors,
tanners, &c., doe worke in their professions for the colony,
and maintayne themselves with food and apparrell, having
time lymitted them to till and manure their ground.
"The farmors live at most ease--yet by their good endeavors
bring yearlie much plentie to the plantation. They are bound
by covenant, both for themselves and servants, to maintaine
your Ma'ties right and title in that kingdom, against all
foreigne and domestique enemies. To watch and ward in the
townes where they are resident. To do thirty-one dayes
service for the colony, when they shalbe called
thereunto--yet not at all tymes, but when their owne busines
can best spare them. To maintayne themselves and families
with food and rayment--and every farmor to pay yearlie into
the magazine for himself and every man servant, two barrells
and a halfe of English measure.
"Thus briefly have I sett downe every man's particular
imployment and manner of living; albeit, lest the
people--who generallie are bent to covett after gaine,
especially having tasted of the sweete of their
labors--should spend too much of their tyme and labor in
planting tobacco, known to them to be verie vendible in
England, and so neglect their tillage of corne, and fall
into want thereof, it is provided for--by the providence
and care of Sir Thomas Dale--that no farmor or other, who
must maintayne themselves--shall plant any tobacco, unless
he shall yearely manure, set and maintayne for himself and
every man servant two acres of ground with corne, which
doing they may plant as much tobacco as they will, els all
their tobacco shalbe forfeite to the colony--by which meanes
the magazine shall yearely be sure to receave their rent of
corne; to maintayne those who are fedd thereout, being but a
few, and manie others, if need be; they themselves will be
well stored to keepe their families with overplus, and reape
tobacco enough to buy clothes and such other necessaries as
are needful for themselves and household. For an easie
laborer will keepe and tend two acres of corne, and cure a
good store of tobacco--being yet the principall commoditie
the colony for the present yieldeth.
"For which as for other commodities, the councell and
company for Virginia have already sent a ship thither,
furnished with all manner of clothing, household stuff and
such necessaries, to establish a magazine there, which the
people shall buy at easie rates for their commodities--they
selling them at such prices that the adventurers may be no
loosers. This magazine shalbe yearelie supplied to furnish
them, if they will endeavor, by their labor, to maintayne
it--which wilbe much beneficiall to the planters and
adventurers, by interchanging their commodities, and will
add much encouragement to them and others to preserve and
follow the action with a constant resolution to uphold the
same."
The colony at this time was engaged in planting corn and tobacco,
"making pitch and tarr, potashes, charcole, salt," and in fishing. Of
Jamestown he says:
"At James Toune (seated on the north side of the river, from
West and Sherley Hundred lower down about thirty-seven
miles) are fifty, under the command of lieutenant Sharpe, in
the absence of capten Francis West, Esq., brother to the
right ho'ble the L. Lawarre,--whereof thirty-one are
farmors; all theis maintayne themselves with food and
rayment. Mr. Richard Buck minister there--a verie good
preacher."
Rev. Hugh Jones "Chaplain to the Honourable Assembly, and lately
Minister of James-Towne and in Virginia," in a work entitled--"The
Present State of Virginia," gives the following account of the
cultivation of tobacco:
"When a tract of land is seated, they clear it by felling
the trees about a yard from the ground, lest they should
shoot again. What wood they have occasion for they carry
off, and burn the rest, or let it lie and rot upon the
ground. The land between the logs and stumps they hoe up,
planting tobacco there in the spring, inclosing it with a
slight fence of cleft rails. This will last for tobacco some
years, if the land be good; as it is where fine timber, or
grape vines grow. Land when hired is forced to bear tobacco
by penning their cattle upon it; but cowpen tobacco tastes
strong, and that planted in wet marshy land is called
nonburning tobacco, which smoaks in the pipe like leather,
unless it be of a good age. When land is tired of tobacco,
it will bear Indian Corn or English Wheat, or any other
European grain or seed with wonderful increase.
[Illustration: Virginia tobacco field, 1620.]
"Tobacco and Indian Corne are planted in hills as hops, and
secured by worm fences, which are made of rails supporting
one another very firmly in a particular manner. Tobacco
requires a great deal of skill and trouble in the right
management of it. They raise the plants in beds, as we do
Cabbage plants; which they transplant and replant upon
occasion after a shower of rain, which they call a season.
When it is grown up they top it, or nip off the head,
succour it, or cut off the ground leaves, weed it, hill it;
and when ripe, they cut it down about six or eight leaves on
a stalk, which they carry into airy tobacco houses, after it
is withered a little in the sun, there it is hung to dry on
sticks, as paper at the paper-mills; when it is in proper
case, (as they call it) and the air neither too moist, nor
too dry, they strike it, or take it down, then cover it up
in bulk, or a great heap, where it lies till they have
leisure or occasion to strip it (that is pull the leaves
from the stalk) or stem it (that is to take out the great
fibres) and tie it up in hands, or streight lay it; and so
by degrees prize or press it with proper engines into great
Hogsheads, containing from about six to eleven hundred
pounds; four of which Hogsheads make a tun by dimention, not
by weight; then it is ready for sale or shipping.
"There are two sorts of tobacco, viz., Oroonoko the
stronger, and sweet-scented the milder; the first with a
sharper leaf like a Fox's ear, and the other rounder and
with finer fibres: But each of these are varied into several
sorts, much as Apples and Pears are; and I have been
informed by the Indian traders, that the Inland Indians have
sorts of tobacco much differing from any planted or used by
the Europeans. The Indian Corn is planted in hills and
weeded much as tobacco. This grain is of great increase and
most general use; for with this is made good bread, cakes,
mush, and hommony for the negroes, which with good pork and
potatoes (red and white, very nice and different from ours)
with other roots and pulse, are their general food."
The cultivation of tobacco increased with the growth of the colony and
the increase of price which at this time was sufficient to induce most
of the planters to neglect the culture of Corn and Wheat, devoting
their time to growing their "darling tobacco." The first thirty years
after the colonization of Virginia by the English, the colony made but
little progress owing in part to private factions and Indian wars. The
horrid massacres by the Indians threatened the extermination of the
colony, and for a time the plantations were neglected and even tobacco
became more of an article of import than of export, which is
substantiated by an early writer of the colony who says:--"A vast
quantity of tobacco is consumed in the country in smoking, chewing,
and snuff." Frequent complaints were made by the colony of want of
strength and danger of imminent famine, owing in part to the presence
of a greater number of adventurers than of actual settlers,--such
being the case the resources of the country were in a measure limited.
The demand for tobacco in England increasing each year, together with
the high price paid for that from Virginia (3 s. per lb.), stimulated
the planters to hazard all their time and labor upon one crop,
neglecting the cultivation of the smaller grains, intent only upon
curing "a good store of tobacco." The company of adventurers at length
found it necessary to check the excessive planting of the weed, and by
the consent of the "Generall Assemblie" restraining the plantations to
"one hundred plants[15] ye headd, uppon each of wich plantes there are
to bee left butt onely nyne leaves wich portions as neare as could be
guessed, was generally conceaved would be agreable with the hundred
waight you have allowed."
[Footnote 15: Another account is sixty pounds per head.]
In 1639 the "Grand Assembly" (summoned the sixth of January) passed a
law restricting the growth of the colony to 1,500,000 lbs., and to
1,200,000 in the two years next ensuing. The exporting of the poorer
qualities of tobacco by the colony caused much dissatisfaction as will
be seen by a letter of the Company dated 11th September, 1621:
"We are assured from our Factor in Holland that except the
tobacco that shall next come thence prove to be of more
perfection and goodnesse than that was sent home last, there
is no hope that it vend att all, for albeit itt passed once
yett the wary buyer will not be againe taken, so that we
heartily wish that youe would make some provision for the
burninge of all base and rotten stuff, and not suffer any
but very good to be cured at least sent home, whereby these
would certainly be more advanced in the price upon lesse in
the quantity; howsoever we hope that no bad nor ill
conditioned tobacco shall be by compelling authoritie
(abusing its power given for public good to private benefit)
putt uppon or Factor, and very earnestly desire that he may
have the helpe of justice to constraine men to pay their
debts unto him both remaining of the last yeares accompt and
what shall this yearse growth deue, and that in Comodities
of the same vallew and goodness as shalbe by him contracted
for."
At this period it appears that tobacco was used as money, and as the
measure of price and value. The taxes whether public, county, or
parish, were payable in tobacco.
Tatham says, "Even the tavern keepers were compelled to exchange a
dinner for a few pounds of tobacco." The law for the regulation of
payments in tobacco was passed in the year 1640. From these facts and
incidents connected with the culture and commerce of the plant we see
how intimately it was connected with both Church and State. Jones well
said "the Establishment is indeed tobacco;" the salary of ministers
was payable in it according to the wealth of the parish. In most
parishes 16000 lbs. was the yearly amount,
"and in some 20,000 lbs. of
Tobacco; out of which there is a deduction for Cask,
prizing, collecting, and about which allowance there are
sometimes disputes, as are also differences often about the
place, time, and manner of delivering it; but all these
things might easily be regulated. Tobacco is more commonly
at 20 s. per cent. than at 10; so that certainly it will
bring 12 s. 8 d. a hundred, which will make 16000 (the least
salary) amount to 100£ per Ann. which it must certainly
clear, allowing for all petty charges, out of the lowness of
the price stated which is less than the medium between ten
and twenty shillings; whereas it might be stated above the
medium, since it is oftener at twenty than ten shillings.
Besides the payment of the salary, the surplice fees want a
better regulation in the payments; for though the allowance
be sufficient, yet differences often and illwill arise about
these fees, whether they are to be paid in money or tobacco,
and when; whereas by a small alteration and addition of a
few laws in these and the like respects, the clergy might
live more happy, peaceable, and better beloved; and the
people would be more easy, and pay never the more dues.
"Some parts of the country make but mean and poor tobacco so
that Clergymen don't care to live in such parishes; but
there the payment might be made in money, or in the produce
of those places, which might be equivalent to the tobacco
payments; better for the minister, and as pleasing to the
people."
We find further complaints from the London Company of the poor quality
of the tobacco "sent home," in a letter addressed to the Governor,
bearing date 10th June, 1622:--
"The tobacco sent home by the George for the company proved
very meane and is yett unsold although it hath been offered
at 3s. the pound. This we thought fitt to advise you
concerning the quantity and the manner how it is raised, in
both wich being done contrarie to their directors and
extreamly to theire prejudice, the Companie is very ill
sattisfied, will write by the next, more largely."
In the year 1620 the difficulties seem first to have been publicly
avowed, (though perhaps before felt,) arising from attaching men as
permanent settlers to the colony without an adequate supply of women,
to furnish the comforts of domestic life; and to overcome the
difficulty "a hundred young women" of agreeable persons and
respectable characters, were selected in England and sent out, at the
expense of the Company, as wives for the settlers. They were very
speedily appropriated by the young men of the colony, who paid for the
privilege of choice considerable sums as purchase money, which went to
replenish the treasury of the Company, from whence the cost of their
outfit and passage had been defrayed.
This speculation proved so advantageous to that body, in a pecuniary
sense, that it was soon followed up by sending out sixty more, for
whom larger prices were paid than for the first consignment; the
amount paid on the average for the first one hundred being 120 pounds
of tobacco apiece for each, then valued at 3s. per lb., and for the
second supply of sixty, the average price paid was 150 lbs. of
tobacco, this being the legal currency of the colony, and the standard
value by which all contracts, salaries, and prices were paid. In one
of the Companies letters dated in London this 12th of August, 1621, we
find this account of a portion of the _goods_ sent over in the ship
Marmaduke:--
"We send you in this ship one widdow and eleven maids for
wives for the people in Virginia; there hath been especiall
care had in the choise of them for their hath not any one of
them beene received but upon good comendations, as by a note
herewith sent you may perceive: we pray you all therefore in
generall to take them into your care, and most especially we
recommend them to you, Mr. Pountes, that at their first
landing they may be housed, lodged and provided for of diet
till they be marryed for such was the haste of sending them
away, as that straightned with time, we had no meanes to
putt provisions aboard, which defect shalbe supplied by the
magazine shipp; and in case they cannot be presently marryed
we desire they may be putt to several householders that have
wives till they can be provided of husbands. There are neare
fifty more which are shortly to come, we sent by our most
honoble Lord William the Earle of Southampton and certain
worthy gentlemen who taking into these considerations, that
the Plantation can never flourish till families be planted
and the respect of wives and children fix the people in the
soil; therefore have given this fair beginning for the
reimbursing of whose charges, itt is ordered that every man
that marries them give 120 lb. waight of best leafe tobacco
for each of them, and in case any of them dye that
proportion must be advanced to make it upp to those that
survive; and this certainly is sett down for that the price
sett upon the bages sent last yeare being 20 lb. which was
so much money out of purse here, there was returned 66 lb.
of tobacco only, and that of the worst and basest, so that
fraight and shrinkage reconed together with the baseness of
the comoditie there was not one half returned, which injury
the company is sensible of as they demand restitution, which
accordingly must be had of them that took uppon them the
dispose of them the rather that no man may mistake himself,
in accomptinge tobacco to be currant 3s. sterling contrary
to express orders.
"And though we are desirous that marriadge be free according
to the law of nature, yett undervow not to have these maids
deterred and married to servants, but only to such freemen
or tenants as have means to maintaine them; we pray you
therefore to be fathers to them in this business, not
enforcing them to marrie against their wills; neither send
we them to be servants, but in case of extremitie, for we
would have their condition so much better as multitudes may
be allured thereby to come unto you; and you may assure such
men as marry those women that the first servants sent over
by the company shall be consigned to them, it being our
intent to preserve families and proper married men before
single persons. The tobacco that shall be due uppon the
marriadge of these maids we desire Mr. Pountes to receive
and returne by the first, as also the little quantities of
Pitzarn Rock and Piece of Oare, the copie of whose bill is
here returned. To conclude, the company for some weighty
reasons too long to relate, have ordered that no man
marrying these women expect the proportion of land usually
allotted for each head, which to avoid clamor or other
trouble hereafter you shall do well to give them notice of."
[Illustration: Buying wives.]
In another letter written by the company and dated London, September
11th, 1621, they write:--
"By this Shipp and Pinace called the Tyger, we also send as
many maids and young women as will make up the number of
fifty, with those twelve formerly sent in the Marmaduke,
which we hope shalbe received with the same Christian pietie
and charitie as they were sent from hence; the providing for
them at their first landing and disposing of them in
marriage (which is our chief intent), we leave to your care
and wisdom, to take that order as may most conduce to their
good, and satisfaction of the Adventurers, for the charges
disbursed in setting them forth, which coming to twelve
pounds and upwards, they require one hundred and fiftie of
the best leafe tobacco for each of them; and if any of them
dye there must be a proportionable addition uppon the rest;
this increase of thirty pounds is weight since those sent in
the Marmaduke, they have resolved to make, finding the
great shrinkage and other losses uppon the tobacco from
Virginia will not leave lesse, which tobacco as it shalbe
received, we desire may be delivered to Mr. Ed. Blany, who
is to keep thereof a particular account. We have used
extraordinary care and dilligence in the choice of them, and
have received none of whom we have not had good testimony of
their honest life and cariadge, which together with their
names, we send them inclosed for the satisfaction of such as
shall marry them; for whose further encouragement we desire
you to give public notice that the next spring we purpose to
send over as many youths for apprentices to those that shall
now marry any of them and make us due satisfaction.
"This and theire owne good deserts together with your favor
and care, will we hope, marry them all unto honest and
sufficient men, whose means will reach to present repayment;
but if any of them shall unwarily or fondly bestow herself
(for the liberty of marriadge we dare not infrindge) uppon
such as shall not be able to give present sattisfaction, we
desire that at least as soon as ability shalbe, they be
compelled to pay the true quantity of tobacco proportioned,
and that this debt may have precedence of all other to be
recovered.
"For the rest, which we hope will not be many, we desire
your best furtherance for providing them fitting services
till they may happen uppon good matches, and are here
persuaded by many old planters that there will be good
maisters now found there, who will readily lay down what
charges shall be required, uppon assurance of repayment at
their marriadges, which as just and reasonable we desire may
be given them. But this and many other things in this
business we must refer to your good considerations and
fruitful endeavors in opening a work begun here out of pity,
and tending so much to the benefitt of the plantation, shall
not miscarry for any want of good will or care on your
part."
In 1622 a monopoly of the importation of tobacco was granted to the
Virginia and Somers Island, companies.
"But now at last it hath pleased God for the confirmation no
doubt of our hopes and redoubling of our and your courage,
to incline His Majestie's Royall heart to grant the sole
importation of Tobacco (a thing long and earnestly desired),
to the Virginia and Somers Island Companies, and that upon
such conditions as the private profit of each man is likely
to be much improved and the general state of the plantation
strongly secured, while his Majestie's revenue is so closely
joyned as together with the colonie it must rise and faile,
grow and impair, and that not a small matter neither, but of
twenty thousand pounds per annum, (for the offer of so much
in certainty hath his majestie been pleased to refuse in
favor of the Plantations)."
On Friday the 22d of March 1622 the Indians attacked the plantations
"and attempted in most places under the color of unsuspected
amytie, and by surprise to have cut us all off and to have
swept us all away at once throughout the whole lande had itt
not pleased God of his abundant mercy to prevent them in
many places, for which we can never sufficient magnifie his
blessed, name."
But notwithstanding this terrible massacre in which nearly four
hundred persons were slain the colony increased in wealth and numbers
as plantations were laid out and the colonists developed the various
resources of the country. From the first planting of tobacco in
Virginia by the colony it seemed to meet the royal displeasure of King
James the First who falsely and frivolously sought to establish a
connection between the balmy plant, and the influences of the Evil
One.
In 1622 King James still opposing the cultivation of tobacco sought by
every means in his power to discourage its growth and culture. He
urged the growing of mulberry trees and the propagation of silk worms,
as being of more value than tobacco. In a letter dated 10th June 1622,
addressed to the Governor and Council of Virginia by the London
Company we find this reproof for neglecting the cultivation of
"mulberrie trees":
"His Ma{tie} (Majesty) above all things requires from us a
proof of silke; sharply reproving the neglect thereof,
wherefore we pray you lett that little stock you have be
carefully improved, the mulberrie trees preserved and
increased, and all other fitt preparations made for, God
willing before Christmas you shall receive from us one
hundred ounces of Silkworme seed at least, which coming too
late from Valentia we have been forced to hatch it here."
In 1623 a letter was prepared for the colony by order of privy council
of the king and addressed to Sir Francis Wyatt Knight and Captain
General of Virginia and to the rest of the Council of State in which
the colony is admonished to pay more attention to "Staple
Commodities." That part relating to it reads:
"The carefull and diligent prosecution of Staple Commodities
which we promist; we above all things pray you to performe
so as we may have speedily the real proof of your cares and
endeavors therein, especially in that of Iron, of Vines and
Silk the neglect and delay whereof so long is to us here
cause of infinit grief and discontent, especially in regard
of his Majesties just resentment therein that his Royall
grace and love to the Plantation, which after so long a time
and long a supply of his Majesties favor hath brought forth
no better fruit than Tobacco.
"Yett by the goodness of God inclyning his princely heart,
we have received not only from the Lords of his Privy
Counsell, but from his Royal mouth such assurance not only
of his tender love and care but also of his Royal intentions
for the advancement of the Plantation; that we cannot but
exceedingly rejoice therein and persuade you with much more
comfort and encouragement to go on in the building up of his
Royal worke with all sincerity, care and diligence, and that
with that perfect love and union amongst yourselves as may
really demonstrate that your intentions are all one, the
advancement of God's glorie and the service of his Royall
Majestie: for the particularities of his Majesties gratious
intentions for the future good, you may in part understand
them by the courses appointed by the Lords, whereof we here
inclosed send the orders.
"And we are further to signifie unto you that the Lords of
his Majesties Privy Counsell, having by his Majesties order
taken into their considerations the contract made last
Sommer by the Company have dissolved the same; and signified
that his Majestie out of his gracious and Royall intention
and princely favor to the Plantation hath resolved to grant
a sole Importion of Tobacco to the two Plantations, with an
exception only of 40,000 weight of ye best Spanish Tobacco
to be yearly brought in.
"And it hath also pleased his Majesty in favor of the
Plantation to reduce ye custom and importing of tobacco to
9d. per pound: And last of all we are to signifie unto you
that their Lordships have ordered that all the Tobacco shall
be brought in from both Plantations as by their Lordship
order whereof we send you a copy, you may perceive."
In 1624 King James prohibited the importation of foreign tobacco as
well as the planting of tobacco in England or Ireland. The following
is a portion of the proclamation:--
"Whereas our commons, in their last sessions of parliament
became humble petitioners to us, that, for many weighty
reasons, much concerning the interest of our kingdom, and
the trade thereof, we would by our royal power utterly
prohibit the use of all foreign tobacco, which is not of the
growth of our own dominions: And whereas we have upon all
occasions made known our dislike we have ever had of the use
of tobacco in general, as tending to the corruption both of
the health and manners of our people.
"Nevertheless because we have been often and earnestly
importuned by many of our loving subjects, planters, and
adventurers in Virginia and the Somer isles; that, as those
colonies are yet but in their infancy, and cannot be brought
to maturity, unless we be pleased, for a time, to tolerate
unto them the planting and vending of their own growth; we
have condescended to their desires: and do therefore hereby
strictly prohibit the importation of any tobacco from beyond
sea, or from Scotland, into England or Ireland other than
from our colonies before named; moreover we strictly
prohibit the planting of any tobacco either in England or
Ireland."
Thus King James by Proclamation and Prohibition set his face sternly
against the growth and traffic in the plant, which opposition knew no
alteration and continued till his death, which occurred in 1625. James
was succeeded by his son Charles I. On ascending the throne Charles
manifested the same hostility towards the plant which his father had.
He prohibited the importation of all tobacco excepting that grown by
the colony, and throughout his reign made no change in the restrictive
laws against its growth and sale. He continued its sale, however, as a
kingly monopoly, allowing only those to engage in it who paid him for
the privilege. The Company had now raised a capital of two hundred
thousand pounds, but falling into dispute and disagreeing one with
another, Charles thought best to establish a royal government.
Accordingly he dissolved the Company in 1626,
"reducing the Country
and Government into his own immediate ordering all patents
and processes to issue in his own name, reserving to himself
a quit-rent of two shillings for every hundred acres of
land."
The first act was by proclamation as follows:--
"That whereas, in his royal father's time, the charter of
the Virginia Company was by a quo warranto annulled; and
whereas his said father was, and he himself also is, of
opinion, that the government of that Colony by a company
incorporated, consisting of a multitude of persons of
various dispositions, amongst whom affairs of the greatest
moment are ruled by a majority of votes, was not so proper,
for carrying on, prosperously, the affairs of the colony;
wherefore, to reduce the government thereof to such a course
as might best agree with that form which was held in his
royal monarchy; and considering also, that we hold those
territories of Virginia and Somer isles, as also that of New
England, lately planted, with the limits thereof, to be a
part of our royal empire; we ordain that the government of
Virginia shall immediately depend on ourself, and not be
committed to any company or corporation, to whom it may be
proper to trust matters of trade and commerce, but cannot be
fit to commit the ordering of state affairs.
"Wherefore our commissioners for those affairs shall proceed
as directed, till we establish a council here for that
colony; to be subordinate to our council here for that
colony. And at our charge we will maintain those public
officers and ministers and that strength of men, munition,
and fortification, which shall be necessary for the defence
of that plantation. And we will also settle and assure the
particular rights and interests of every planter and
adventurer. Lastly, whereas the tobacco of those plantations
(the only present means of their subsisting) cannot be
managed for the good of the plantations, unless it be
brought into one hand, whereby the foreign tobacco of those
plantations may yield a certain and ready price to the
owners thereof: to avoid all differences between the
planters and adventurers themselves, we resolve to take the
same into our own hands, and to give such prices for the
same as may give reasonable satisfaction, whereof we will
determine at better leisure."
From this time forward the Plantation seemed to prosper, Charles
granted lands to all the planters and adventurers who would till them,
upon paying the annual sum of two shillings payable to the crown for
each hundred acres. Before the death of King James, however, the
cultivation of tobacco had become so extensive that every other
product seemed of but little value in comparison with it, and the
price realized from its sale being so much greater than that obtained
for "Corne," the latter was neglected and its culture almost entirely
abandoned.
Arthur and Carpenter, in their History of Virginia, give a graphic and
truthful picture of its cultivation during the reign of King James:--
"The first articles of commerce to the production of which
the early settlers almost exclusively devoted themselves,
were potash, soap, glass and tar. Distance, however, and a
want of the proper facilities to enable them to manufacture
cheaply, rendered the cost of these commodities so great,
that exports of a similar character from Russia and Sweden
were still enabled to maintain their old ascendency in the
markets of Europe. After many fruitless and costly
experiments in the cultivation of the vine, the growing
demand for tobacco enabled the planters to turn their labor
into a profitable channel. As the demand increased the
profits became correspondingly great, and every other
species of labor was abandoned for the cultivation of
tobacco.
"The houses were neglected, the palisades suffered to rot
down, the fields, gardens and public squares, even the very
streets of Jamestown were planted with tobacco. The
townspeople, more greedy of gain than mindful of their own
security, scattered abroad into the wilderness, where they
broke up small pieces of rich ground and made their crop
regardless of their proximity to the Indians, in whose good
faith so little reliance could be placed."
During the reign of Charles I. many families of respectable connection
joined the colony, and from this time forward the colony increased in
wealth as well as numbers. King Charles, to use the language of
another, had now commenced "as a tobacco merchant and monopolist," and
in 1627 issued a proclamation renewing his already strong monopoly
more effectually, by appointing certain officers of London
"to seize
all foreign tobacco, not of the growth of Virginia or
Bermudas, for his benefit, agreeable to a former commission:
also to buy up for his use all the tobacco coming from our
said plantations, and to sell the same again for his
benefit."
[Illustration: Growing tobacco in the streets.]
Again in 1630 King Charles issued another proclamation, and among
other restrictions limited the importation of it from the colony.
Quickly following this the King issued in 1632 another proclamation
regulating the retailing of tobacco. In 1634 he also prohibited the
landing of tobacco any where except at the quay near the custom house
in London.
In 1636 Charles appointed Sir John Harvey to be continued governor of
the Plantation. In 1643 parliament laid a tax for the year 1644,
calling it Excise, and also laid a duty of four shillings per pound on
foreign, and two shillings per pound on English tobacco. From what has
already been written, it will be seen that both King James and his son
Charles I. enacted the most stringent laws against its importation,
nearly suppressing the trade, which caused the English farmers to
cultivate it for home use; but another law was now added to suppress
its growth on English soil.
Fairholt in speaking of the hostility of King James to the plant says:
"When Kings make unnecessary and unjust laws, subjects
naturally study how to evade them: it is a mere system of
self-defence; and as James nearly suppressed the importation
of tobacco the English began to grow it on their own land.
But the Scottish Solomon who was on the alert, added another
law restraining its cultivation 'to misuse and misemploy the
soil of this fruitful Kingdom.' As this enforced the trade
with the English colony of Virginia alone, it was soon found
that Spanish and Portuguese tobacco might be brought into
port on the payment of the old duty of twopence a pound;
thus a large trade was carried on with their planters to the
injury of the British colonists.
"Its use increased in spite of all legislative laws and
enactments and James ended by prohibiting any person from
dealing in the article who did not hold his letters patent.
By this means the trade was monopolized, the consumers
oppressed, importation diminished, and the London Company of
Virginia traders ultimately ruined. Those who are fond of
excusing the evil acts of one of the worst of English Kings,
pretend to see James' care for his subjects' health and
wealth in these restrictions, totally regardless of the fact
that James cared for neither when the monopoly brought large
sums into his own pocket."
In 1632 Charles I. granted to Sir George Calvert (who about this time
was made Lord Baltimore) the territory now known as Maryland; soon
after receiving the grant he died, when his son took the grant in his
own name. The next year he sailed from England with two hundred
persons and settled in his new possessions. The colony from the first,
prospered far better than the colony of Virginia and soon laid the
foundation of a strong and substantial government. Like the Virginians
they soon engaged in the cultivation of tobacco which seemed as well
adapted to the soil as the other products, corn and English wheat. The
Indians were found here as in the Plantation of Virginia planting
tobacco as they did Indian corn and cultivating little patches of it
near their wigwams choosing the most fertile soil the females of the
tribe being the actual cultivators.
[Illustration: Natives growing tobacco.]
From this time forward both colonies developed into strong and
flourishing plantations and with each succeeding year increased the
cultivation of tobacco which had now become more extensively
cultivated than all the other products combined. Its culture however
was looked upon with the same disapproval by Charles II. who confirmed
the old laws against its sale and cultivation. But notwithstanding the
remonstrances of the Stuarts the plant grew in use and favor and could
not be uprooted even by a kingly hand. The early cultivators of the
plant received a fresh impetus from the importation of a new species
of labor in the form of Negro slaves brought from the West India
islands. They arrived in the Ship Treasurer "being manned by the best
men of the colony who set out on roving in ye Spanish dominions in the
West Indies" and after a successful cruise against the Spaniards
returned with their spoils including a certain number of Negroes.
Rolfe in alluding to the importation of Negroes says:
"About the last of August came in, a Dutch man-of-warre that
sold us twenty negars."
Most writers are of the opinion that this was in 1620, one of whom
says "in the same year that the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, slaves
landed in Virginia." Another writer says of the introduction of slave
labor into the Plantations,
"Is there not a probability that the
vessel was under control of Argall, if not the ship
Treasurer? If twenty negroes came in 1619, as alleged, their
increase was very slow, for according to a census of 16th of
February, 1624, there were but twenty-two then in the
colony, distributed as follows: eleven at Flourdiew Hundred,
three at James City, one at James Island, one at the
plantation opposite James City, four at Warisquoyok, and two
at Elizabeth City."
About the same time that "negars" landed in the colony, commenced the
arrival of starving boys and girls picked up out of the streets of
London. The "negars" are described as follows by an early writer of
the colony.
"The negroes live in small cottages called quarters, in
about six in a gang, under the direction or an overseer or
baliff; who takes care that they tend such land as the owner
allots and orders, upon which they raise Hogs and Cattle,
plant Indian Corn (or maize) and Tobacco for the use of
their Master; out of which the overseer has a dividend (or
share) in proportion to the number of hands including
himself; this with several privileges in his salary, and is
an ample recompense for his pains, and encouragement of his
industrious care, as to the labor, health, and provision of
the negroes. The negroes are very numerous, some gentlemen
having hundreds of them of all sorts, to whom they bring
great profit; for the sake of which they are obliged to keep
them well, and not overwork, starve, or famish them, besides
other inducements to favor them, which is done in a great
degree, to such especially that are laborious, careful, and
honest; though indeed some Masters, careless of their own
interest and reputation, are too cruel and negligent.
"The negroes are not only increased by fresh supplies from
Africa and the West India Islands, but also are very
prolific among themselves; and they that are born there talk
good English, and effect our language, habits, and customs;
and tho' they be naturally of a barbarous and cruel temper,
yet are they kept under by severe discipline upon occasion,
and by good laws are prevented from running away, injuring
the English or neglecting their business. Their work (or
chimerical hard slavery) is not very laborious; their
greatest hardship consisting in that they and their
posterity are not at their own liberty or disposal, but are
the property of their owners; and when they are free they
know not how to provide so well for themselves generally;
neither did they live so plentifully nor (many of them) so
easily in their own country where they are made slaves to
one another, or taken captive by their enemies. Their work
is to take care of the stock, and plant Corn, Tobacco,
Fruits and which is not harder than thrashing, hedging, or
ditching; besides, though they are out in the violent heat,
wherein they delight, yet in wet or cold weather there is
little occasion for their working in the fields, in which
few will let them be abroad, lest by this means they might
get sick or die, which would prove a great loss to their
owners, a good Negroe being sometimes worth three (nay four)
score pounds sterling, if he be a tradesmen; so that upon
this (if upon no other account) they are obliged not to
overwork them, but to clooth and feed them sufficiently, and
take care of their health."
The planters, supplied with greater facilities for the work, now
increased the size of their tobacco plantations, "taking up new
ground" (clearing the land) and planting a much larger area. The first
exportation of the colony's tobacco was brought into competition with
that of much finer flavor, which had acquired an established
reputation long before the English began the culture of the plant in
the New World. The Spanish, Dutch and Portuguese had long monopolized
its culture and trade, and brought from St. Domingo, Jamaica, St.
Thomas, the Philippine Islands, West Florida, and various parts of
South America, several varieties of tobacco of excellent quality, and
which sold at an exorbitant price. On testing the tobacco grown by the
London and Plymouth companies it was found to be sweet and mild in
flavor, of a light color, and well adapted for smoking. On its first
introduction into England it sold for 3s. per pound, but as its
culture increased the price lessened, until it was sold at one-half
this amount.
[Illustration: Destroying suckers.]
The planters, who at first cultivated small patches, now planted large
fields of tobacco, and such was the greed for gain that some planters
gathered a second crop upon the same field from the suckers left
growing upon the parent stalk. Tatham[16] says in regard to it:--
[Footnote 16: Essay on Tobacco, London, 1800.]
"It has been customary in former ages to rear an inferior
plant from the sucker which projects from the root after the
cutting of an early plant; and thus a second crop has often
been obtained from the same field by one and the same course
of culture; and although this scion is of a sufficient
quality for smoking, and might become preferred in the
weaker kinds of snuff, it has been (I think very properly)
thought eligible to prefer a prohibitory law, to a risk of
imposition by means of similitude. The practice of
cultivating suckers is on these accounts not only
discountenanced as fraudulent, but the constables are
strictly enjoyned _ex officio_ to make diligent search, and
to employ the _posse commitatus_ in destroying such crops; a
law indeed for which, to the credit of the Virginians, there
is seldom occasion; yet some few instances have occurred,
within my day, where the constables have very honorably
carried it into execution in a manner truly exemplary, and
productive of public good."
Fairholt says of the same subject:--
"It was sometimes the custom with planters to reset the
suckers, and thus grow a double crop on one field, such
conduct was disallowed; for the reason that the crop was
inferior, and the more honest grower, who conscientiously
cleared his plants, and gave them abundance of room to grow,
was dishonestly competed with; and the first rate character
of the Virginian crop prejudiced by the action."
Fairholt makes a mistake in speaking of the planter as re-setting the
suckers, and his statement shows him to be entirely unacquainted with
the habits of the plant. As soon as the plants are harvested, the
stump of the plant remaining in the ground puts forth one or more
vigorous suckers or shoots, which often in a good season grow almost
as high as the parent stalk. In some tobacco-growing sections one or
two crops of suckers are gathered besides the first crop.
The Creole planters in Louisiana are said to grow three crops in this
manner, the first or parent crop and two growths of suckers. The
quality of leaf, however, is greatly inferior, as it is small and thin
and lacking in all the qualities necessary for a fine leaf. The
planters now adopted new methods of culture, and cultivated several
species of the plant known as Oronoko and little Frederick, although
they did not fertilize the fields, even when the soil became
impoverished, but simply took new fields for its culture.
Hugh Jones says of the kinds of tobacco grown in Virginia:--
"The land between the James and York rivers seemes nicely
adapted for sweet scented tobacco; for 'tis observed that
the goodness decreaseth the farther you go to the northward
of the one, and the southward of the other; but this may be
(I believe) attributed in some measure to the seed and
management, as well as to the land and latitude: For on York
river in a small tract of land called Diggens neck, which is
poorer than a great deal of other land in the same latitude,
by a particular seed and management, is made the famous crop
known by the name of E Dees, remarkable for its mild taste
and fine smell." He speaks of the planters and their
plantations as follows:--"Neither the interests nor
inclinations of the Virginians induces them to cohabit in
towns: so that they are not forward in contributing their
assistance towards the making of particular places, every
plantation affording the owner the provision of a little
market; wherefore they most commonly build upon some
convenient spot or neck of land in their own plantation,
though towns are laid out and established in each county.
"The whole country is a perfect forest, except where the
woods are cleared for plantations, and old fields, and where
have been formerly Indian towns, and poisoned fields and
meadows, where the timber has been burnt down in fire
hunting and otherwise; and about the creeks and rivers are
large rank morasses or marshes, and up the country are poor
savannahs. The gentlemen's seats are of late built for the
most part of good brick, and many of timber very handsome,
commodious, and capacious; and likewise the common planters
live in pretty timber houses, neater than the farm houses
are generally in England: With timber also are built houses
for the overseers and out-houses; among which is the kitchen
apart from the dwelling house, because of the smell of hot
victuals, offensive in hot weather.
"The habits, life, customs, computations of the Virginians,
are much the same as about London, which they esteem their
home; and for the most part have contemptible notions of
England, and wrong sentiments of Bristol, and the other
out-posts, which they entertain from seeing and hearing the
common dealers, sailors, and servants that come from those
towns, and the country places in England and Scotland, whose
language and manners are strange to them; for the planters
and even the native negroes generally talk good English
without idiom and tone, and can discourse handsomely upon
most common subjects: and conversing with persons belonging
to trade and navigation from London, for the most part they
are much civilized, and wear the best of clothes according
to their station; nay, sometimes too good for their
circumstances, being for the generality, comely handsome
persons of good features and fine complexions (if they take
care) of good manners and address.
"They are not very easily persuaded to the improvement of
useful inventions (except a few, such as sawing mills)
neither are they great encouragers of manufactures, because
of the trouble and certain expense in attempts of this kind,
with uncertain prospect of gain; whereas by their staple
commodity, tobacco, they are certain to get a plentiful
provision; nay, often very great estates. Upon this account
they think it folly to take off their hands (or negroes) and
employ their care and time about anything that may make
them lessen their crop of tobacco. So that though they are
apt to learn, yet they are fond of and will follow their own
ways, humors and notions, being not easily brought to new
projects and schemes; so that I question if they would have
been improved upon by the Mississippi or South sea, or any
other such monstrous bubbles. The common planters leading
easy lives without much labor, or any manly exercise, except
horse-racing, nor diversion, except cock-fighting, in which
some greatly delight.
"This easy way of living, and the heat of the summer, makes
some very lazy, who are then said to be climate-struck. They
are such lovers of riding, that almost every ordinary person
keeps a horse; and I have known some spend the morning in
ranging several miles in the woods to find and catch their
horses to ride only two or three miles to the Church, to the
Court-House or to a Horse-Race, where they generally appoint
to meet upon business; and are more certain of finding those
that they want to speak or deal with, than at their home. No
people can entertain their friends with better cheer and
welcome; and stranger and traveler is here treated in the
most free, plentiful, and hospitable manner; so that a few
Inns or Ordinaries on the road are sufficient."
This is no doubt a correct picture of the early planters of Virginia.
Many of them became the owners of large plantations and all those who
were successful growers of tobacco became wealthy in proportion to the
quality of leaf produced.
The merchants, factors or store-keepers bought up the tobacco of the
planters paying in goods or "current Spanish money, or with sterling
bills payable in Great Britain." At first the cultivation of tobacco
by the colony was confined to Jamestown and the immediate vicinity,
but as the colony increased and the country became more densely
populated, plantations were laid out in the various counties and a
large quantity was produced some ways from the great center Jamestown;
accordingly various methods were adopted to get the tobacco to market,
some of which was sent by boats or canoes down the rivers, while some
was conveyed in carts and wagons while another method was by rolling
in hoops.
Tatham in his interesting work on tobacco, gives the following
description of the method:
"I believe rolling tobacco the distance of many hundred
miles, is a mode of conveyance peculiar to Virginia; and for
which the early population of that country deserve a very
handsome credit. Necessity (that very prolific mother of
invention), first suggested the idea of rolling by hand;
time and experience have led to the introduction of horses,
and have ripened human skill, in this kind of carriage, to a
decree of perfection which merits the adoption of the mother
country, but which will be better explained under the next
head of this subject.
[Illustration: Carrying tobacco to market.]
"The hogsheads, which are designed to be rolled in common
hoops, are made closer in the joints than if they were
intended for the wagon; and are plentifully hooped with
strong hickory hoops (which is the toughest kind of wood),
with the bark upon them, which remains for some distance a
protection against the stones. Two hickory saplings are
affixed to the hogshead, for shafts by boring an auger-hole
through them to receive the gudgeons or pivots, in the
manner of a field rolling-stone; and these receive pins of
wood, square tapered points, which are admitted through
square mortises made central in the heading, and driven a
considerable depth into the solid tobacco. Upon the hind
part of these shafts, between the horses and the hogshead, a
few light planks are nailed, and a kind of little cart body
is constructed of a sufficient size to contain a bag or two
of provender and provision, together with an axe, and such
other tools as may be needed upon the road, in case of
accident. In this manner they set out to the inspection in
companies, very often joining society with the wagons, and
always pursuing the same method of encamping."
The methods of making the plant bed, cultivating and harvesting, by
the early planters may be interesting to all growers of the plant and
are here described as showing the progress made in cutting tobacco
from that time until now.
"In spring red seed, in preference to the white, is put into
a clean pot; milk or stale beer is poured upon it, and it is
left for two or three days in this state; it is then mixed
with a quantity of fine fat earth, and set aside in a hot
chamber, till the seeds begin to put out shoots. They are
then sown in a hot-bed. When the young plants have grown to
a finger's length, they are taken up between the fifteenth
and twenty-second of May, and planted in ground that has
been previously well manured with the dung of doves or
swine. They are placed at square distances of one and a
half-foot from one another. In dry weather, they are now to
be watered with lukewarm water softly showered upon them,
between sunset and twilight. When these plants are full two
feet high, the top of the stems are broken off, to make the
leaves grow thicker and broader. Here and there are left a
few plants without having their tops broken off, in order
that they may afford seeds for another year. Throughout the
summer the other plants are from time to time, pruned at the
top, and the whole field is carefully weeded to make the
growth of the leaf so much the more vigorous.
"In the month of September, from the sixteenth day, and
between the hours of ten in the morning and four in the
afternoon, the best leaves are to be taken off. It is more
advantageous to pluck the leaves when they are dry than when
they are moist. When plucked they are to be immediately
brought home, and hung upon cords within the house to dry,
in as full exposure as is possible to the influence of the
sun and air; but so as to receive no rain. In this exposure
they remain till the months of March and April following;
when they are to be put up in bundles, and conveyed to the
store-house, in which they may be kept, that they may be
there till more perfectly dried by a moderate heat. Within
eight days they must be removed to a different place, where
they are to be sparingly sprinkled with salt water, and left
till the leaves shall be no longer warm to the feeling of
the hand. A barrel of water with six handfuls of salt are
the proportions. After all this the tobacco leaves may be
laid aside for commercial exportation. They will remain
fresh for three years."
[Illustration: Enriching plant-bed.]
In Maryland they formerly prepared the land for a plant-bed by burning
upon it a great quantity of brush-wood, afterwards raking the surface
fine; the seed was then sowed broadcast. The young plants were kept
free from weeds, and were transplanted when about two inches high. The
cultivation of tobacco gradually spread from one State to another.
From Virginia it was introduced into North Carolina and Maryland and
finally Kentucky which is now the largest producing tobacco State in
the Union. The demand for Virginia tobacco continued to increase and
long before the Revolutionary war, Virginia exported annually
thousands of hogsheads of leaf tobacco. Half a century ago the plant
began to be cultivated in Ohio and from the first grew remarkably
well, producing a leaf adapted for both cutting and cigar purposes.
Tobacco was planted in New Netherland (New York) by the early Dutch
settlers and in 1638 "had become a staple production." In 1639 "from
Virginia numbers of persons whose terms of service had expired, were
attracted to Manhattan, where they introduced improved modes of
cultivating tobacco." Van Twiller was himself a grower of the plant
and had his tobacco farm at Greenwich. Soon after its cultivation
began it was subjected to Excise; and regulations were published to
check the abuses which injured "the high name" it had gained in
foreign countries.[17]
[Footnote 17: Jacob van Churler and David Provoost were
appointed inspectors of the new staple tobacco. "In 1652
the commonalty at Manhattan was informed that, to show
their good intentions, the Amsterdam directors had
determined to take off the export duty of tobacco."]
Wailes says of the early cultivation of tobacco in Mississippi:
"When the country came under the dominion of Spain, a market
was opened in New Orleans; a trade in tobacco was
established, and a fixed and remunerating price was paid for
it, delivered at the king's warehouses. Tobacco thus became
the first marketable staple production of Mississippi."[18]
[Footnote 18: In 1783 Mr. Wm. Dunbar writes: "The soil
of Natchez is particularly favorable for tobacco and
there are overseers there, who will almost engage to
produce you between two and three hogsheads to the hand
besides provisions."]
An English writer has the following account of the culture of tobacco
in Louisiana by the French:
"Tobacco is another plant indigenous to this part of
America; the French colonists cultivated it with such
success that had they received any encouragement from their
government they might soon have rivalled Virginia and
Maryland; but instead of this they were taxed heavily for
cultivating it, by duties laid on the trade; what they
produced was of so excellent a quality, as to sell some at
five shillings a pound. There is one advantage in this
culture here which ought not to be forgotten; in Louisiana
the French planters after the tobacco is cut, weeded and
cleaned the ground on which it grew the roots, push forth
fresh shoots, which are managed in the same manner as the
first crop. By this means a second crop is made on the same
ground, and sometimes a third. These seconds indeed, as they
are called, do not usually grow so high as the first plant,
but notwithstanding they make very good tobacco."
During the reign of the Stuarts, the plant was first cultivated in New
England but only in small quantities[19] and used solely for smoking.
About 1835 the plant received more attention from the farmers living
in the Connecticut valley containing some of the finest tobacco land
in the country. They found by repeated trials that the soil was well
adapted to the production of a finer leaf tobacco than any they had
ever seen. At this time Kentucky and Havana tobacco were used in the
manufacture of cigars, but on testing American tobacco or as it is now
known "Connecticut seed leaf" it was found to make the finest wrappers
yet produced, and consequently the best looking cigars. From that time
its reputation has kept pace with its cultivation, until it now enjoys
a world wide popularity. As a wrapping tobacco it towers far above the
seed products of other states and can never have a successful
competitor in the other varieties now cultivated in the Middle and
Western States. Doubtless America furnishes the finest varieties of
the plant now cultivated, suited for all kinds of manufacturing, and
adapted to all the various forms in which it is used.
[Footnote 19: "Every farmer plants a quantity of tobacco
near his house in proportion to the size of his family.
It is likewise very necessary that they should plant
tobacco, because it is so universally smoked by the
common people,"--_Kalm's travels in North America_,
1772.]
The great diversity of soil and climate renders this probable while
actual experiments and improved methods of culture have demonstrated
it to a certainty. Thousands of hogsheads, cases, and bales are
annually shipped to all parts of the world and the demand for American
tobacco is greater than for the varieties grown in the Old World. More
than two hundred and fifty years have passed since the London and
Plymouth Companies began its cultivation in the Old Dominion, and on
the same soil where the red man grew his "uppowac." Virginia leaf
still continues to flourish, and to-day it is the great agricultural
product of the State.
From a small beginning, like the plant itself it has developed into a
great and increasing industry and its culture become a source of
wealth unprecedented in agricultural history. Could the sapient James
I. and his successors the Stuarts, now look upon this cherished
production of the world, they would discover a commercial prosperity
connected with those nations which have fostered and encouraged its
growth far in advance of those who have frowned upon the plant and
prohibited or hindered its cultivation. Saint Pierre alluding to the
beneficence of nature and of the folly and cruelty of man as
contrasted says:
"When the princes of Europe went Gospel in hand, to lay
waste Asia, they brought back the plague, the leprosy and
the small-pox, but nature showed to a Dervish the coffee
tree in the mountains of Yemen, and at the moment when
nature brought curses on us through the Crusaders, it
brought delights to us through the cup of a Mohammedan Monk.
The descendants of those princes took possession of America,
and transmitted to us by this conquest, an inexhaustible
succession of wars and maladies. While they were
exterminating the inhabitants of America with cannon, a
Carib invited sailors to smoke his Calumet as a signal of
peace. The perfume of the tobacco vanquished their torments
and their troubles, and the use of tobacco was spread all
over the earth. While the afflictions of the two worlds came
from artillery, which kings call their last resort, the
consolations of civilized nations flowed from the pipe of a
savage."
[Illustration: Shipping tobacco.]
It seems hardly possible to draw a more graphic picture of the
blessings diffused by the balmy plant, than that just given. Its
peculiar charms and soothing influence are well calculated to
inspire in the breast of man, feelings of peace and happiness, rather
than elements of discord and strife. The pipe of a king burns not more
freely the shreds of the plant, than it does the last remnant of
hostile feelings and the recollections of bitter wrongs; while the
snuff-box of the diplomat contains the precious dust that has soothed
the fierce hatred of rival houses and cemented the divided factions of
a tottering throne.