Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 1.djvu/462

 reputation. Between the sweet-scented and the Oronoco, which represented the other extreme in weight, there were several varieties, the seed of which bore the names of planters who had given them special distinction. The Pryor, which is cultivated in Virginia to-day, was well known as early as the seventeenth century; but other kinds distinguished in a similar way have not descended to more recent times. It was stated that the Indians had several varieties of tobacco of their own at this period which were unknown to colonial husbandry.

When Hugh Jones resided in Virginia, nearly twenty years subsequent to the decade now claiming our attention, he noted the fact, which was just as true in the closing years of the seventeenth century as in the opening years of the eighteenth, that the lands situated between the York and the James were peculiarly adapted to the growth of the sweet-scented tobacco, and that the quality of this variety was observed to decline the further one proceeded northward from the York or southward from the James. Jones was disposed to attribute this in a very large measure to a difference in seeds and management, but the true explanation doubtless lay in the difference in the ground under cultivation. The modern history of the plant in Southern Virginia has shown how dependent are the fine varieties upon special elements in the composition of land, and that these elements may be found in the soil of one county and yet be entirely absent in that of another, although contiguous. In the time of Hugh Jones, the tobacco cultivated on a small tract in York County, known as Digges Neck, enjoyed the highest degree of reputation for its mild taste and agreeable odor.