TOBACCO LEAF. 



them for wives. And thus tobacco first riveted the 

 bonds of matrimony in the New World, and made con- 

 tented citizens of the little white band of adventurous 

 spirits that first peopled Virginia. But for the profits 

 of tobacco, the colony would, doubtless, have perished, 

 and British civilization would have lost its foothold in 

 the southern boundaries of North America. 



The profits from tobacco proved so great that the 

 cultivation of the food crops was neglected. This con- 

 dition demanded strenuous regulations by the Virginia 

 company. In 1621, the colonists 

 were restricted to the planting of 

 one hundred plants per head, and 

 the number of leaves to each plant 

 was limited to nine. Afterwards, 

 the number of leaves was extended 

 to twenty-five or thirty, and re- 

 duced, in 1629, to twelve. In 

 1629, 3000 plants per poll and 1000 

 plants each for women and children 

 were allowed. The crop of 1621 

 was 60,000 pounds, 55,000 pounds 

 of which were exported to Holland. 

 FIG. s. TOBACCONIST'S The price in England for the same 

 SHOP, LONDON, 1600. year, with the duty added, ranged 



From Brathwait's "Smoking . , 



A ge." from seventy-five cents to one dollar 



per pound. In 1676, the mother country collected from 

 the duty on tobacco 120,000 pounds sterling. The whole 

 amount collected from the custom duties in 1590, during 

 the reign of Elizabeth, was only 50,000 pounds. This 

 increase is largely to be attributed to the trade in tobacco. 

 In 1731, the exports of tobacco from the Provinces of 

 Maryland and Virginia conjointly reached 60,000 hogs- 

 heads of 600 pounds each, which yielded 375,000 pounds 

 sterling, or $1,875,000. The imposts on this were 180,- 

 000 pounds sterling, or $900,000. 



