Am.  Jour.  Pbarm."! 
November,  1897.  J 
Destruction  of  Tobacco. 
557 
THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  TOBACCO  IN  VIRGINIA  BY  ACT 
OF  GENERAL  ASSEMBLY,  JANUARY  6,  1639,  UNDER 
SIR  FRANCIS  WYATT,  GOVERNOR.1 
By  John  Uri  L,i,oyd,  Ph.M.,  Ph.D. 
Query  by  Professor  Fluckiger. — "  In  Alonzo  Calkins  (Opium  and 
the  Opium  Appetite),  Philadelphia,  1871,  p.  373,  there  is  a  state- 
ment to  the  effect  that  in  1639,  by  authority  of  the  'Virginia  As- 
sembly '  there  went  out  a  decree  that  all  the  tobacco  then  standing 
in  cultivated  fields  should  be  dug  up  and  exterminated.  Is  this 
correctly  abstracted  from  some  official  records  ?" 
Answer  by  John  Uri  Lloyd. — In  reply  to  this  question,  I  am  con- 
vinced that  the  evidence  is  conclusive  that  only  part  of  the  tobacco 
was  destroyed.  This  was  because  tobacco  was  too  abundant  to 
command  a  good  price  in  the  market,  and  not  with  a  view  to  its 
extermination.  By  destroying  a  large  share  of  the  crop  the  remain- 
der was  enhanced  in  value.  In  support  of  my  view,  I  offer  testi- 
mony which  seems  to  me  conclusive. 
The  subject  may  be  traced  as  follows  : 
G.  Bancroft  makes  only  general  allusion  to  the  laws  restricting 
the  planting  of  tobacco  in  Virginia  at  that  time. 
Robert  R.  Howison,  A  History  of  Virginia,  2  Vols.,  and 
Henry  Howe,  Historical  Collection  of  Virginia,  1856,  both  point 
to: 
Hening,  Statutes  at  Large,  1st  Vol.,  pp.  224  and  225,  as  a  book  of 
reference  on  the  records  of  Virginia  administration.  In  this  publi- 
cation, 1st  Vol.,  pp.  224.  and  225,  we  find  the  following  Acts  by  the 
Grand  Assembly  of  Virginia,  January  6,  1639,  under  Sir  Francis 
Wyatt,  Governor: 
ACT  I. 
"  Tobacco,  by  reason  of  excessive  quantities  being  made,  being  so 
low  that  the  planters  could  not  subsist  by  it,  or  be  enabled  to  raise 
more  staple  commodities,  or  pay  their  debts  : 
1When  Professor  Fluckiger  visited  America  (July,  1894)  he  hoped  to  obtain 
historical  data  that  would  enable  him  to  give  the  records  of  several  interesting 
American  productions.  In  this  he  failed,  and  he  then  associated  in  his  behalf 
the  services  of  the  author  of  this  paper.  After  much  of  the  work  had  been 
done,  the  death  of  Professor  Fluckiger  interrupted  the  investigation.  This 
paper  on  tobacco  was  one  of  the  subjects  considered. — Editor  Am.  Jour. 
Pharm. 
