CULTURE AND CURING IN VIRGINIA. 217 



should bo seized, (a) The salary of Sir William Berkeley as governor of Virginia, which was paid out of the revenue 

 from quit rents and the impost of 2s. per hogshead on tobacco, was 1,000 per annum, (b) In December, 1662, 

 30 pounds of tobacco per poll was levied for the building of James City, (c) In September, 1664, Maryland 

 having refused to co-operate with Virginia in lessening the quantity of tobacco produced and thus advancing its 

 value, all restrictions upon planting were rescinded, (d) In October, 1665. the impost of 10s. per hogshead on all 

 tobacco exported elsewhere than to England was restored because of the competition of Maryland, which, under 

 its proprietary charter, enjoyed rights of trade which were denied to Virginia, the latter being restricted in the 

 importation of tobacco to England alone, (e) In June, 1666, it was recited that "whereas the quantity of tobacco 

 made m this colony is become so great that all markets have become glutted with it, and the value so reduced 

 as not to offer subsistence to the planter", and in consequence a cessation from planting for one year from 

 February 1, 1G66, to February 1, 1667, was proposed, subject to the ratification of the colonies of Maryland and North 

 Carol i ua, with which commissioners were appointed to treat. (/) The conference was successful, for, by act of October, 

 1666, the preceding act was confirmed and made operative, the two colonies having assented to its provisions. (</) 

 This had been a favorite scheme with the assembly, and conferences with the authorities of Maryland and 

 North Carolina had previously been held in 1663-'64-'65. 



In August, 1667, "there happened all over Virginia a gust or storm of wind and rain, which continued for 

 three days with such violence * * * that above one-half of their crop of tobacco, which was then standing in 

 the lield, was blown away and torn to pieces, the tobacco-houses were blown down, and not one part in three saved 

 of what was made that year." (h) 



The customs collected in England in 1676 upon Virginia tobacco amounted to 120,000 sterling, while the 

 whole custom duties in the reign of Queen Elizabeth (1590) amounted to only 50,000. (i) In April, 1679, the 

 Importation of all tobacco from North Carolina, save in payments of debts due, was prohibited, (j) and by act of 

 Juuf, 1680, tobacco was forbidden to be shipped before March 20 for two years ensuing, for the better enhancement 

 of price and the lessening of freights, (k) In October, 1681, it was provided that after the 10th of September, 1682, 

 all tobacco casks were required to be branded with the first two initial letters of the name of the owner, and the cask 

 was to be allowed for at 30 pounds of tobacco. (I) In November, 1682, the price of tobacco was fixed at 10s. per 

 hundred-weight, (m) During the disputes, in May, 1682, between the governor, Lord Culpepper, and the house oi 

 burgesses the inhabitants of the counties of Gloucester, New Kent, and Middlesex proceeded riotously to cut up 

 the tobacco-plants in the beds, especially the sweet-scented, which was produced nowhere else, () and in October, 

 1686, the shipment of stalks from which the tobacco had been stripped was prohibited, (o) In 1687, the merchants 

 of London petitioned the general assembly to prohibit the exportation of tobacco in bulk, and the statement was 

 made that such as was sold at the mast at lirf. and 'Id. a pound had been sold to buyers in London at 6d. per pound, 

 while sweet-scented in entire parcels sold for 7d. and l^d. (p) According to the report of the receiver-general of the 

 colony, Colonel William Byrd, the revenue of 2s. per hogshead and 5s. per ton for the year 24th July, 1688, to 24th 

 July, 1689 was as follows: 



i. d. 



For Colonel William Cole's aocurapt of the lower district of James river 608 7} 



For Colonel Matthew Page's accompt of the upper district of James river 527 6| 



For Secretary Spencer's accompt of the Potomac district 458 4 3 



For Colonel John Cnstis's accompt of the Accompt district 137 11 1 



For Colonel Ralph Wormeley's accompt of the Kappahanuock district 746 13 8J 



For Colonel Edmund Jeuiug's accompt of the York district - 1,153 18 4 



3,631 8 6i 



a Calendar of State Papers, America and West Indies (1661-'68), August 25, No. 537. 



b Ibid., No.3<>8. 



c Bland, p. 12. 



d Hening, ii, p. 209. 



e Ibid. The impost on tobacco in Maryland in 1671 was 2. per hogshead. 



/ Ibid., pp. 224-225. 



g Ibid., pp. 229-232. 



A Postlethwayt's Dictionary of Trade and Commerce, 1757, vol. ii, art. Tobacco. 



i Bishop, i, p. 322. 



_;' Hening, ii, p. 425. From The Rerisal of the Laws of North Carolina, printed by James Davis, Newbern, 1773, it appears that no 

 inspection of tobacco was provided until 1768, wheu the requirements were made similar to those of Virginia. The weight of the hogshead 

 waa made 1,000 Ibs. net, and all accounts, according to the statutes, were kept in pounds, shillings, and pence. 



k Honing, ii, p. 479. 

 J Ibid., p. 31. 



m Ibid., p. 506. 



H Introduction by Charles Campbell to Beverley's History of Virginia, edition, Richmond, 1855, pp. 2-3. 



o Heuiiig, iii, p. 35. 



p " Westover Papers", Wynne's Edition of I860, Essay on Bulk Tobacco, vol. ii, p. 140, et *eq. Colonel William Byrd wrote January 

 11, 1688, as to the crops of the preceding (1687) : " We had y e most promising this year ever known, but it was generally spoiled by some 

 thicke, close weather in S br [Sept.] so that now tobacco is for y greatest part either house burnt or hath sweat so much that its become 

 (as you call it) husky, though I dare say y' if niiuo * " will not pass you must expect none this year from Maryland or Virginia wch 

 has made as bad tobacco this yeare as ever. They have had Assembly lately in Maryland about Bulke. To Perry & Lane, London." MS. 

 Letter-Book, IGSi-'yj, in Collections Virginia Historical Society. 



