Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 1.djvu/230

 is no record as to the result of their experiment, but it was probably not attended with much success. At this time no provision was made for the protection of cattle in winter, not even for supplying them with food. Delaware remarked upon the fact as an indication of the mildness of the climate. This was the beginning of the custom afterwards prevailing so generally in the Colony, and which has been continued to the present age, of permitting live stock to run at large in the fields and woods at all seasons of the year, without any addition to their provender beyond what they can themselves secure, the natural effect of which has been to reduce the size of the breeds.

Sir Thomas Dale reached Virginia in May, Delaware having left the Colony in the hope of restoring his health. Being a man of singular energy, decision, and firmness of character, Dale proceeded to enforce the same rules for the use of the soil which Smith had been practically the first to adopt. Instead of looking to the Indians for the principal supplies of corn, or depending upon the store of imported provisions, he determined to secure an abundance of food through the industry of the settlers themselves. The second day after his arrival at Point Comfort, he visited Forts Henry and Charles, not only to examine the condition of these fortifications, but also to observe the character of the surrounding soil with a view to planting it in corn. Collecting together the men who had accompanied him from England and a part of the garrison occupying Fort Algernon, which was situated near to Point Comfort, Forts Charles and Henry standing on Southampton River, he set them to clearing the fields in the neighborhood of Fort Henry, to digging the ground, and to dropping and