Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 1.djvu/327

 profit, and this had the effect which the numerous proclamations and instructions previously issued to discourage its production had failed to bring about; there was now for the first time in the history of the Colony a voluntary disposition among the people to devote some attention to other commodities that had hitherto aroused but little interest. There was a considerable extent of land in Virginia which, from a previous course of tillage, had been sufficiently deprived of its fertility to be left in an excellent condition for the growth of wheat; it now occurred to many of the planters that instead of allowing this land to revert to forest, or instead of putting it down in a succession of crops of maize until wholly exhausted, it would be advisable to sow it in English grain. This course had already for several years been followed by Abraham Piersey, who in one year alone, 1627, had two hundred acres in wheat and as many in barley, the product of this area of soil being so great that he was able to furnish food daily at his own charge to sixty persons. The authorities sought to confirm this disposition to give less attention to tobacco. In 1628, there was issued a proclamation that only so much of this commodity should be cultivated as would not interfere with the production of grain;