Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 1.djvu/354

 referred to, the effect of directing the attention of the planters of Virginia to products to which they had previously given only a small part of their thoughts and energies. In 1638, the Burgesses forwarded a special communication to the Privy Council in England, in which they declared that the interest in the culture of silk had revived very much, and their messenger presented to the Secretary of that body a considerable quantity of the Virginian product to show the excellence of its quality. On the other hand, the interest in the culture of the vine had declined so far, that the law of 1632, requiring that twenty slips to the head should be annually planted, was expressly repealed, and it was provided instead that each landholder should produce a certain amount of flax and hemp.

Influenced by repeated instructions from England, Harvey continued to promote by his own example the production of English grain in Virginia. In the closing year of his administration, he wrote to the English authorities that four of the members of the Council