ACTS LIMITING QUANTITY, 321 
admirable fallow crop, and, under a scientific system of agri- 
culture, it is grown with no continued detriment to the soil. 
But in Virginia it was grown without interruption or alter- 
nation, and the plantations rapidly deteriorated in fertility 
As they did so, the crops grew smaller in proportion to the 
labor expended upon them ; yet, from the continued impor- 
tation of laborers, the total crops of the colony increased 
annually, and the market value fell proportionately to the 
better supply. 
“With smaller return for labor and lower prices, the 
lanters soon found themselves bankrupt, instead of nabobs. 
ow could they help themselves? Only by forcing the 
merchants to pay them higher prices. But how to do that, 
when every planter had his crop pledged in advance, and 
was obliged to hurry it off at any price he could get for it, 
in order to pay for his food, and drink, and clothing, and to 
keep his head above water at credit for the following year. 
‘The crop supplied more tobacco than was needed, but no one 
man would cease to plant it, or lessen his crop for the general 
good. Then it was agreed all men must be made to do so, 
and the colonial legislature was called upon to make them. 
“ Acts were accordingly passed to prevent any planter from 
cultivating more than a certain number of plants to each 
hand he employed in labor, and prescribing the number of 
leaves which might be permitted to ripen upon each plant 
permitted to be grown. An inspection of all tobacco, after 
it had been prepared for market, was decreed, and the in- 
spectors were bound by oath, after having rejected all, of 
inferior quality, to divide the good into two equal parts, and 
then to burn and destroy one of them. Thus, it was ex- 
pected the quantity of tobacco offered for sale would be so 
small that merchants would be glad to pay better prices for 
it, and the planters would be relieved of their embarrass- 
ment.” : 
Mrs. M. P. Handy gives the following interesting sketch, 
entitled “On the Tobacco Plantation” :— 
“Riding through Southside, Virginia, any warm, bright 
winter’s day after Christmas, the stranger may be startled to 
see 2 dense column of smoke rising from the forest beyond. 
He anxiously inquires of the first person he meets—probably 
a negro—if the woods are on fire. Cuffee shows his white 
teeth in a grin that is half amusement, half contempt, as he 
answers: ‘No, sar, deys jis burnin’ a plant-patch.’ For this 
is the first step in tobacco-culture. 
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