Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 1.djvu/265

 having hitherto been raised from grain originally brought from Canada, but which had become puny and defective from continued improper cultivation. They also asked that the seed should be transported in the chaff, and in the passage across the ocean should be kept between decks. None was to be forwarded that was older than the last harvest. From the same source, it is learned that the amount of barley and oats produced in Virginia at this time was so small as to be unworthy of consideration. In compliance with the request of the authorities of the Colony, the Company at a general court made provision for dispatching to Virginia a pinnace containing not only wheat and barley, but also garden seeds and scions of fruit trees.

Among the staple commodities which Yeardley was directed by the Company to promote was flax, one of the indigenous products of the Colony; every family was required to cultivate one hundred plants, and the Governor himself five thousand. The Assembly of 1619 passed a law to enforce this provision, and further declared that if flax should be shown to be a ratable commodity, the number of plants which each family was expected to raise would be increased. In 1622, Pony, the Secretary of the Council, forwarded to England specimens cultivated under the Company&#8217;s instructions, and they were pronounced by experts to be as excellent in texture as the flax from which the celebrated Cambaya stuffs were woven. The