Interest in Colonial Resources. 5 



But it was Carolina that excelled in the production of the 

 pitch and tar, just as New Hampshire was the great source of 

 masts and ship timber. The timber of the Carolinas was of no 

 mean quality, and the soil was said to be admirably adapted to 

 growing hemp and flax, so that these provinces were early 

 looked upon as a possible source of supply for the royal navy. 

 By the beginning of the eighteenth century, pitch, tar and 

 timber were counted among the chief products of Carolina. In 

 Virginia and Maryland, naval stores competed with tobacco, 

 but the latter was regarded as the more important staple. In 

 1664, when, in consequence of over-production, the price fell so 

 low that the planters found themselves £50,000 in debt, a me- 

 morial on the subject was sent to the Lords Committee of 

 Trade, at Whitehall; whereupon, after careful consideration, 

 their Lordships saw fit to submit to His Majesty, among other 

 proposals, "that, for the encouragement of the planters to ap- 

 ply themselves to the planting of other commodities which may 

 be of more benefit than tobacco. His Majesty would be pleased 

 to permit that all the hemp, pitch and tarr of the growth pro- 

 duction or manufacture of Virginia and Maryland, for the 

 space of live years from the date hereof, might be custom 

 free."^ This report having been read. His Majesty and the 

 Lords of Council gave directions, "for the time being, to per- 

 mit and suffer all the hemp, pitch and tar of the growth of the 

 said plantations, that should be brought into the kingdom dur- 

 ing the space of five years from date, to be freely imported and 

 unladed without demanding or receiving any customs or im- 

 position for the same." Great caution was urged to prevent 

 frauds. This liberality is an anticipation of the methods of en- 

 couragement which became a settled policy from the reign of 

 Queen Anne to the American Revolution. 



After the Revolution of 1688, we find William and Mary 

 signing contracts with one or two London merchants to supply 

 the navy with small quantities of ship-timber. William Wallis 



iBruce, "Economic History of Virginia," Vol. I, page 392, 



