A. E. Verrill — The Bermuda Islands. 551 



Therefore, it is remarkable that any respectable crops of such an 

 exhaustive plant as tobacco could have been raised on the same land 

 for so long a time. It is certain, however, that the fertility of the 

 soil had very much decreased before tobacco culture was abandoned 

 (abont 1707). But in the meantime Virginia and other American 

 colonies had become great tobacco-growing countries (about 1626) 

 and produced a better quality, so that the prices of the island pro- 

 duct had fallen to such an extent that the Bermudians could not 

 compete with any profit. In 1027 it was worth about I s 10 d in Lou- 

 don. It was finally sold at 3 d per pound in 1670. For more than 

 a hundred years after this culture was given up, the agriculture of 

 the islands was very much diminished, though the raising of corn, 

 oranges, potatoes, onions, and other products for export still con- 

 tinued to some extent. The early agriculture was doubtless very 

 simple and imperfect. Scarcely any implements except the grub- 

 bing hoes were in use. Plows were practically unknown until 1839, 

 when their use was urged and introduced to some extent by Gover- 

 nor Reid. 



In Governor Tucker's time, about 1618, -i0,000 pounds of tobacco 

 Avere shipped in one year. In 1620, 70,000 pounds were shipped by 

 the "Joseph." In later years 200,000 pounds were often shipped. 

 In 1671 one vessel is said to have carried away 250,000 pounds. In 

 1679 the officers of the Company stated that the annual value was 

 about £5,000 sterling, but at that time the price per pound was very 

 low. One year it is stated that it brought only l^ d per pound. 

 Owing to the increasing production of tobacco in Virginia and the 

 West Indies, and the excessive freight and duties levied upon the 

 Bermuda product, the price rapidly fell from 2 s 6 d to about 9 d or 

 less per pound between 1626 and 1630. At first the duty was I s per 

 pound ; in 1623 it was 9 d ; in 162S it was 6 d . The duty and freight 

 were often more than it would bring in the London market, so that 

 the more the colonists raised the poorer they became. Although 

 they raised an abundance of corn, potatoes, fruit, poultry, and other 

 food, they had no commodities with which to buy goods from Eng- 

 land, such as clothing, so that they became very destitute of clothing 

 and many other necessities of life, though food was plenty.* 



* The destitution in clothing, etc., caused by the decrease in the price of tobacco 

 and the high duty on it, is graphically described in letters from Governor Roger 

 Wood, written in 1632. The following extract is from one of these : — 



" To Mr. Ballene I referr the i - eporte of his voyage, usage and affection on this 

 very poore Island, only for lacke of Canvasse shirts and shoes and such things 



