Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 1.djvu/259

 for itself. The amount of rent exacted of the tenants was undoubtedly too large, being very much in excess of that which was required of the farmers during the administration of Dale. So unsatisfactory did the working of this rate prove to the Company, and so much discontent did it breed among the tenants themselves, that in 1622, barely three years after the original provision, the Governor and Council in Virginia were instructed to modify it. By the old regulation, the tenant was to transfer to the Company one-half of the crops of his fields, but if the harvest failed, he was relieved of responsibility; by the terms of the new, he was to settle his rent by delivering twenty bushels of grain, sixty pounds of tobacco, and one pound of silk. In addition, he could be required to give his labor to the public works for six days. In order to ensure the performance of these conditions, at least three tenants were made to live together, each one being bound for the payment of the specified rent.

It is interesting to note the different implements which the Company provided for the tenants who were sent to Virginia to cultivate the public lands. The allowance seems to have been made on the basis of a family of six persons. It consisted of five broad and five narrow hoes, three shovels, two spades, two band-bills, two broad and five felling axes, two hatchets, two steel saws, two hand-saws and one whipsaw, two hammers, two augers, two piercers, six chisels, three gimlets, two frows, two pick-axes, one grindstone, and nails of many sizes. The stern conditions which were to confront the tenant on his arrival were indicated in the arms furnished him for