Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 1.djvu/349

 from the lurking savages. So constant was the apprehension of Indian incursions, that it is stated that one-third of the laborers were at this time engaged in performing the duties of guards.

The inclination to abandon old plantations and to take up new ones, which was promoted by the restrictive laws referred to, had both a beneficial and an injurious effect; it encouraged a more active destruction of the woods, but at the same time it fostered a spirit of indifference in the owners of land as to the manner in which they used it. They neglected the fencing of their grounds, they failed to establish pastures for their cattle, or to lay off orchards and gardens, or even to plant corn. So frail were many of the dwelling-houses in consequence of the purpose of the occupants to desert their estates as soon as exhausted by the culture of tobacco, that special instructions were sent to the Governor to discourage by every means in his power the erection of such temporary habitations. The tendency to go elsewhere was, however, not to be rooted out by instructions or laws. The same motives in a modified form were to be seen in the disposition of many persons to sue out patents to new lands without having any intention of abandoning the estates upon which they were residing. The influences leading to the expansion by purchase of the boundaries of plantations in subsequent times, when the whole surface of the country had been appropriated, were at work at this early period, but it exhibited itself not so much in enlarging single tracts as a means of securing a virgin soil, as in obtaining patents to entirely separate lands which remained unreclaimed, and which were frequently situated at a great distance from the first estate.

In 1639, in spite of the efforts to curtail the production of tobacco with a view to increasing its value, the price