Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 1.djvu/229

 many of the wild hogs which were so numerous there, to replace the hogs eaten by the colonists in the extremity of their distress. During the ten months Delaware remained in Virginia, the time not spent by him in an aimless search for unknown mines, was devoted to promoting the cultivation of the soil; the hours of labor set by him for the settlers were from six until ten in the morning, and from two to four in the afternoon, a division most excellent as to the morning, but not so judicious as to the afternoon, except in the tempered months of the year. The respectable but slow and ceremonious Governor, in his report to the Council as to his administration in the Colony, which appears to have been rather inglorious, states that during the winter he passed in Virginia he directed that much ground should be sowed in roots. These roots were doubtless turnips and carrots, which had a few years before been found to thrive in the valley of the Powhatan. The same ground had been, at the time of Delaware&#8217;s departure, this being in the following March, put into a condition to receive corn. The main dependence for food during his executive control seems to have been placed upon the store brought over from England, and upon the supply of maize which Argoll had been able to secure by trading with the Indians. Lord Delaware sought to test the virtue of the native grape by introducing into Virginia for the purpose of making wine a number of French vine dressers, who soon after their arrival proceeded to transplant the vine of the country. There