Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 1.djvu/555

 1626 to 1632, the greatest area of soil included in any one patent was one thousand acres. In no other instance did it rise above five hundred. The average area ranged from one hundred to three hundred. In 1632, the largest number of acres taken up under one patent was three hundred and fifty. In 1634, two very extensive tracts were acquired by patent, one amounting to twenty-five hundred and fifty acres, the other to five thousand three hundred and fifty. There were in the same year two instances of patents to tracts of fifteen hundred acres respectively and two of two thousand acres. The general average was not in excess of seven hundred and nineteen. In 1635, there was but one tract taken up by patent, which ranged as high as two thousand acres; the average size of the tracts thus acquired in the course of this year was three hundred and eighty. In 1636, the largest tract obtained by patent was two thousand acres in extent, and the average was three hundred and fifty-one. In 1637, the largest was fifty-three hundred and fifty acres. In four instances, two thousand acres were acquired, and in a third, twenty-two hundred and fifty, while the average area was not in excess of four hundred and forty-five. In 1638, the most extensive area included in a patent was three thousand acres. The average number was four hundred and twenty-three. In 1640, the most extensive area of ground