planters and adventurers themselves, we resolve to take the
same into our own hands, and to give such prices for the
same as may give reasonable satisfaction, whereof we will
determine at better leisure."

From this time forward the Plantation seemed to prosper, Charles
granted lands to all the planters and adventurers who would till them,
upon paying the annual sum of two shillings payable to the crown for
each hundred acres. Before the death of King James, however, the
cultivation of tobacco had become so extensive that every other
product seemed of but little value in comparison with it, and the
price realized from its sale being so much greater than that obtained
for "Corne," the latter was neglected and its culture almost entirely
abandoned.

Arthur and Carpenter, in their History of Virginia, give a graphic and
truthful picture of its cultivation during the reign of King James:--

"The first articles of commerce to the production of which
the early settlers almost exclusively devoted themselves,
were potash, soap, glass and tar. Distance, however, and a
want of the proper facilities to enable them to manufacture
cheaply, rendered the cost of these commodities so great,
that exports of a similar character from Russia and Sweden
were still enabled to maintain their old ascendency in the
markets of Europe. After many fruitless and costly
experiments in the cultivation of the vine, the growing
demand for tobacco enabled the planters to turn their labor
into a profitable channel. As the demand increased the
profits became correspondingly great, and every other
species of labor was abandoned for the cultivation of
tobacco.

"The houses were neglected, the palisades suffered to rot
down, the fields, gardens and public squares, even the very
streets of Jamestown were planted with tobacco. The
townspeople, more greedy of gain than mindful of their own
security, scattered abroad into the wilderness, where they
broke up small pieces of rich ground and made their crop
regardless of their proximity to the Indians, in whose good
faith so little reliance could be placed."

During the reign of Charles I. many families of respectable connection
joined the colony, and from this time forward the colony increased in
wealth as well as numbers. King Charles, to use the language of
another, had now c