that
some change must be made in the colony, and he accordingly abolished
the common store and made every man dependent on his own labor. But
the exactions he imposed upon the settlers in return made it certain
that he did not desire their benefit so much as to save expense to his
masters in England. The "Farmers," as he called a small number to whom
he gave three acres of land to be cultivated in their own way, had to
pay two and a half barrels of corn per acre and give thirty days'
public service in every year; while the "Laborers," constituting the
majority of the colony, had to slave eleven months, and were allowed
only one month to raise corn to keep themselves supplied for a year.
The inhabitants of Bermuda Hundred counted themselves more fortunate
than the rest because they were promised their freedom in three years
and were given one month in the year and one day in the week, from May
till harvest-time, "to get their sustenance," though of this small
indulgence they were deprived of nearly half by Dale. Yet even this
slender appeal to private interest was accompanied with marked
improvement, and in 1614 Ralph Hamor, Jr., Dale's secretary of state,
wrote, "When our people were fed out of the common store and labored
jointly in the manuring of ground and planting corn, ... the most
honest of them, in a general business, would not take so much faithful
and true pains in a week as now he will do in a day."[41]

These were really dark days for Virginia, and Gondomar, the Spanish
minister, wrote to Philip III. that "here in London this colony
Virginia is in such bad repute that not a human being can be found to
go there in any way whatever."[42] Some spies of King Philip were
captured in Virginia, and Dale was much concerned lest the Spaniards
would attack the settlement, but the Spanish king and his council
thought that it would die of its own weakness, and took no hostile
measure.[43] In England the company was so discouraged that many
withdrew their subscriptions, and in 1615 a lottery was tried as a
last resort to raise money.[44]

When Dale left Virginia (May, 1616) the people were very glad to get
rid of him, and not more than three hundred and fifty-one
persons--men, women, and children--survived altogether.[45] Within a
very short time the cabins which he erected were ready to fall and the
palisades could not keep out hogs. A tract of land called the
"company's garden" yielded the company L300 annually, but