Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 2.djvu/220

 Virginia with the rates for the same articles of food in England during the seventeenth century; a just conception may be thus obtained of the relative expense of living in the two countries during this long period. In England, the price of beef at the beginning of the century was nearly two pence a pound, and at the close of it four pence. In the Colony, it was precisely the reverse. Three and a half pence in 1642, when the provision tax was imposed for the benefit of Sir William Berkeley, the price of one pound of beef was one penny and one-fifth of a penny in 1682, and at certain seasons one penny only in 1705. In 1645, veal was sold in England at two shillings and seven and a half pence a stone; in 1678, at two pence, two and a half pence, and two and three-quarter pence a pound. In these instances, the weight of the calf when slaughtered did not exceed ninety pounds. The price lists adopted by the Assembly in Virginia make no specific reference to veal, the rates for this meat doubtless being included in those for beef. The valuation laid down for a calf in 1642, namely, twenty-five shillings, conveys no definite idea as to weight, the age alone of the animal being taken into consideration. The Virginian price lists fail to include mutton, an indication of the small part which it played in the economy of the household. Some notion as to its cost in the Colony as compared with its cost in England may be obtained from the relative values of sheep in the two, which have been touched upon in the account of the agricultural development of Virginia at different periods. York in the mother country rose in price as time advanced, reversing, as in the case of beef, the history of the same article of food in the Colony, where it commanded, in the latter part of the century, a penny and one-fifth a pound. In England at this time three pence seem to have been the lowest rate, and in