Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 1.djvu/280

 not only be aired before it was brought to the magazine, but all that was shown to be very mean in quality when offered in exchange should be burnt. This was the institution of the first general inspection law in Virginia, a measure which was especially necessary in that age, when from the inexperience of many of the planters, men who had not been long in the Colony, so much of the tobacco was of the most indifferent character. The law prescribed only two grades, but it is interesting to note that the roll which reached England in 1615, in the Flying Horse, was described as &#8220;middling,&#8221; but this term may have been applied to the second grade. The scope of the inspection law of 1619 was, in 1623, extended by the appointment of sworn men in each settlement to condemn all bad tobacco.

There were a number of reasons which gave tobacco a superiority over all the other commodities of Virginia, and rendered ultimately abortive every effort to divert the attention of the planters to the production of maize and wheat, wine and silk. The general economic tendencies of a people are never founded upon mere wilfulness, but upon a just appreciation of their immediate interests as controlled by their physical surroundings. First of all,&#8212;and from a material point of view, this was sufficient in itself if tobacco could be cultivated as cheaply as any other crop,&#8212;it commanded proportionately to weight a higher price in the markets of England and Holland.