EFFORTS OP THE LONDON COMPANY 11 



defrayed; and because the .-kill of handling them i> 

 only derined from the PrenchmeD we eanot but here 



n mend this to yo 1 fauo* and regard that they may 



1m- kindly used and cherished." The Letter also rep- 



ts that Bnppliea were furnished for the French- 

 men and Dutchmen (the latter having been Bent to 

 erecl saw-mills). Tin- supplies were "diners provis- 

 ions of victualls as also a cloth t<> make them appar- 

 rell; for host- and shoes and other snch matters 

 desire they may )..• Bnpplied by the Companies - 

 there, out of the Magazine wch now comes along in 

 the Warwicke large and abnndante in all useful] and 

 aecessarie comodities." 



It is evident from this narrative that tin- London 

 Company desired to introduce tin- cultivation of the 

 vim- into Virginia and that it encouraged tin- immi- 

 gration <>t* the French for that purpose. Tin- experi- 

 ment seems to have come to naught, liow.-v.-i-. B< 



writing a hundred years later, speaks of the 

 attempt as follow.-: "The Year before the Massacre, 



lf'.j-j. which destroy'd so many good Pn 

 for Virginia; Borne French Vignerons were sent thither, 

 to make an Experiment of their Vines. These People 



-■> in Love with the Country, that the Character 

 they then gave of it, in their I. - to the Company 

 in England, was very much to its Advantage, namely, 

 'That i' tor excell'd their own Country of Langut 

 The Vines growing in greal Abundance and Varietj 

 all over tin- Land: That some of the Grapes were 

 of that unusual i . that they did not believe 



them to l..- Qrapes, until by opening them, they bad 

 teen their Kernels: That they had planted the Cut- 

 their Vines at Michalmas, and bad Grapes 



