Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 2.djvu/469

 which he received entitled him to be paid by the General Assembly out of the public levy. If the owner of the flax or hemp manufactured it into linen cloth, he was allowed six pounds of tobacco for every ell, which was to be three-quarters of a yard in width at the least. This linen was first examined by the county court, and proof of its being of the growth and manufacture of the owner had to be offered and accepted before the regular certificate could be obtained. Every tithable was required to produce either two pounds of flax, or hemp, or one pound of each, every year, and the penalty for the neglect of this regulation was the forfeiture of fifty pounds of tobacco. To ensure its performance, the heads of families and the overseers of servants and slaves were directed, before the annual levy was made, to appear before the nearest justice of the peace, and give in for each tithable under him, the amount of dressed flax or hemp prescribed by law.

The statute was to continue in force until 1685, but it was repealed before its limitation was reached, on the ground that it imposed too heavy a burden on the public, both in the quantity of tobacco paid out under its provisions, and in the loss resulting from the passing of that commodity through the hands of officers. It was also stated that the advantages derived by the planters from this form of manufacture would be so great that there was needed no further encouragement to ensure its continuation.

The disapproval which the English Government expressed with reference to the original regulation does not seem to have influenced the General Assembly in deciding to declare its provisions inoperative. Whether this was the case or not, the inventories placed on record in the county courts in the period between the repeal of the law and its