Page:The wealth of nations, volume 2.djvu/427

 The fifth bounty of this kind was that granted by the 9th of George III., chap. 38, upon the importation of raw silk from the British plantations. It was granted for twenty-one years, from the 1st January, 1770, to the 1st January, 1791. For the first seven years it was to be at the rate of twenty-five pounds for every hundred pounds value; for the second, at twenty pounds; for the third, at fifteen pounds. The management of the silkworm, and the preparation of silk, requires so much hand labor, and labor is so very dear in America, that even this great bounty, I have been informed, was not likely to produce any considerable effect.

The sixth bounty of this kind was that granted by the 11th of George III., chap. 50, for the importation of pipe, hogshead, and barrel staves and heading from the British plantations. It was granted for nine years, from the 1st January, 1772, to the 1st January, 1781. For the first three years, it was for a certain quantity of each, to be at the rate of six pounds; for the second three years, at four pounds; and for the third three years, at two pounds. The seventh and last bounty of this kind was that granted by the 19th of George III., chap. 37, upon the importation of hemp from Ireland. It was granted in the same manner as that for the importation of hemp and undressed flax from America, for twenty-one years, from the 24th June, 1779, to the 24th June, 1800. This term is divided, likewise, into three periods of seven years each; and in each of those periods the rate of the Irish bounty is the same with that of the American. It does not, however, like the American bounty, extend to the importation of undressed flax. It would have been too great a discouragement to the cultivation of that plant in Great Britain. When this last bounty was granted, the