1836.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



755 



tions made by that body — and this plan of having the 

 settlers to labor in common, and without holding pri- 

 vate property, would alone go far to account for the 

 previous feeble and often suffering condition of the 

 colony. 



"Each individual put the fruits of his labors into the 

 common stock, and industry and indolence were thus 

 placed on the same footing. The disadvantages of 

 sucli a procedure must be obvious. This was a pro- 

 perty too vague and uncertain, to stimulate the enter- 

 prise and industry of the owner. The foresight of 

 Dale put a stop to this evil; and though his remedy is 

 partial and defective, it must still be considered as the 

 dawn of civilization." — Burk's History of Virginia, 

 vol. 1. page 172. 



"The most honest and illustrious would scarcely 

 take so much pains in a week, as they would have 

 done for themselves in a day; presuming, that however 

 the harvest prospered, the general store must maintain 

 them; by which means, they reaped not so much corn 

 by the labor of thirty men, as three men could have 

 produced on their own lands." — Purchas. 



"And now the English began to find the mistake of 

 forbidding and preventing private property: For, 

 whilst they all labored jointly together, and were fed 

 out of the common store, happy was he, that could 

 slip from his labor; or slobber over his work in any 

 manner. Neither had they any concern about the in- 

 crease; presuming, however, the crop prospered, that 

 the public store must still maintain them. 



"The five years also, prescribed in his majesty's in- 

 structions, under the privy seal, for trading altogether 

 in common stocks, and bringing the whole fruit of their 

 labors into common store houses, were now expired. 

 Therefore, to prevent this inconveniency and bad 

 consequence, Sir Thomas Dale allowed each man 

 three acres of cleared ground, in the nature of farms. 

 They were to work eleven months for the store, and 

 had two bushels of corn from thence; and only had 

 one month allowed them, to make the rest of their pro- 

 visions. This was certainly very hard and pinching; 

 but his new and favorite settlement at Burmudas Hun- 

 dred had better conditions. For once month's labor, 

 which must'neither be in seed time nor in harvest, they 

 were exempted from all other services; and for this ex- 

 emption, they only paid two barrels and a half of corn, 

 as a yearly tribute to the store, However, the pros- 

 pect of these farmers labors', gave the colony much 

 content; and they were no longer in fear of wanting, 

 either lor themselves, or to entertain their new settlers. 

 —Stith,p. 131. 



Having commenced at this great cause of previous 

 mishaps, I now return to note some of the most re- 

 markable or interesting events that relate to the early 

 agriculture or general economy of the colony of Vir- 

 ginia. 



Tne ships which brought the first settlers, entered 

 the Chesapeake on April 26th, 1607; and the landing 

 at Jamestown, to make a permanent settlement, was 

 on May 13th. No corn or other crop was made until 

 the following year — and then but a very scanty supply. 

 Within one month after the return of the ships to Eu- 

 rope, June 22, 1607, fifty of the settlers died from sick- 

 ness caused principally by want and unwholesome food. 

 "The survivors were divided into three watches, 

 and subsisted on crabs and sturgeon till September," 

 when new supplies were received from England. 



"About this time also, there sprang up a very trou- 

 blesome sect of gold finders, which was headed by 

 captain Martin, and warmly embraced by Newport. 

 There was no thought, no discourse, no hope, and no 



work, but to dig gold, wash gold, refine gold, and load 

 gold; and notwithstanding captain Smith's warm and 

 judicious representations, how absurd it was, to neg- 

 lect other things of immediate use and necessity, to 

 load such a drunken ship with gilded dust; yet was he 

 overruled, and her returns made in a parcel of glitter- 

 ing ore which is found in various parts of the country, 

 and which they very sanguinely concluded to be gold 

 dust: And in her they sent home Mr. Wingfield and 

 captain Archer, to seek some better employment in 

 England, for they had assumed many empty titles of 

 olfices here, as admirals, recorders, chronologers, jus- 

 tices of the peace, and of the courts of plea, with other 

 such idle and insignificant pretensions." — Sitth, p. 60. 



After the third crop season, and second actual har- 

 vest, the agricultural condition of the colony may be 

 gathered from the following statement, which the his- 

 torian evidently presents as highly prosperous: and in- 

 deed, so it was, compared to the state of things before, 

 and after the end of the administration of Capt. Smith, 

 but for whose conduct the very existence of the colo- 

 ny would have been lost. 



"And thus, about Michaelmas, one thousand six hun- 

 dred and nine, Captain Smith left the country, never 

 again to see it. He leit behind him, three ships and 

 seven boats; commodities ready for trade; the corn new- 

 ly gathered; ten weeks provision in the store; four 

 hundred ninety and odd persons; twenty-four pieces of 

 ordnance; three hundred musquets, with other arms 

 and ammunition, more than sufficient for the men; the 

 Indians, their language, and habitations, well known to 

 an hundred trained and expert soldiers; nets for fish- 

 ing; toois of all sorts, to work; apparel, to supply their 

 wants; six mares and a horse; five or six hundred hogs; 

 as many hens and chickens; with some goats, and some 

 sheep. For whatever had been brought, or bred here, 

 still remained. But this seditious and distracted rab- 

 ble, regarding not any thing, but from hand to mouth, 

 riotously consumed what there was; and took care for 

 nothing, but to color and make out some eomplaints 

 against Captain Smith.'' — Stiih, p. 15.3. 



But the miserable crops made under the joint-labor 

 and common-property system, and the larger supplies 

 of food received from England, were insufficient with- 

 out the corn obtained in trade, (or by fraud or force,) 

 from the natives. War, soon alter Smith's departure, 

 cut off this supply. 



"Famine now made its appearance, attended with 

 circumstances at once melancholy and disgusting: 

 Food, the bare idea of which, during better days, had 

 created loathing and disgust, was now seized on, with 

 greedy and bestial voracity." — Hist, of Va., p. 157, 

 vol. 1. 



"Those who had starch, made no little use of it, in 

 this extremity; and the very skins of their horses were 

 prepared, by slewing and hashing, into a dainty and 

 welcome food. Nay, so great was the famine, that the 

 poorer sort took up an Indian, that had been slain and 

 buried, and eat him; and so did s veral others, one 

 another, that died, boil d and stewed with roots and 

 herbs: And one, among the rest, killed his wife, pow- 

 dered her up, and had eaten part of her, before it was 

 discovered; for which he was, alterwards, severely ex- 

 ecuted. In short, so extreme was the famine ami dis- 

 tress of this time, that it was, for many yt ara after, dis- 

 tinguished and remembered by the name of the starving 

 —Sliih, ji. 117. 



"In the midst of the distresses of the Virginia colo- 

 ny, t! ■■ rem mbrance of Smith obtrud d itself, awa- 

 kening in them hi;; rregrrihs Ibi ui; loss, and calling 



out j.y_i'. r ■;'-'-- --'- ■> e. i themselves, for their baseness 



