hen said to be climate-struck. They
are such lovers of riding, that almost every ordinary person
keeps a horse; and I have known some spend the morning in
ranging several miles in the woods to find and catch their
horses to ride only two or three miles to the Church, to the
Court-House or to a Horse-Race, where they generally appoint
to meet upon business; and are more certain of finding those
that they want to speak or deal with, than at their home. No
people can entertain their friends with better cheer and
welcome; and stranger and traveler is here treated in the
most free, plentiful, and hospitable manner; so that a few
Inns or Ordinaries on the road are sufficient."

This is no doubt a correct picture of the early planters of Virginia.
Many of them became the owners of large plantations and all those who
were successful growers of tobacco became wealthy in proportion to the
quality of leaf produced.

The merchants, factors or store-keepers bought up the tobacco of the
planters paying in goods or "current Spanish money, or with sterling
bills payable in Great Britain." At first the cultivation of tobacco
by the colony was confined to Jamestown and the immediate vicinity,
but as the colony increased and the country became more densely
populated, plantations were laid out in the various counties and a
large quantity was produced some ways from the great center Jamestown;
accordingly various methods were adopted to get the tobacco to market,
some of which was sent by boats or canoes down the rivers, while some
was conveyed in carts and wagons while another method was by rolling
in hoops.

Tatham in his interesting work on tobacco, gives the following
description of the method:

"I believe rolling tobacco the distance of many hundred
miles, is a mode of conveyance peculiar to Virginia; and for
which the early population of that country deserve a very
handsome credit. Necessity (that very prolific mother of
invention), first suggested the idea of rolling by hand;
time and experience have led to the introduction of horses,
and have ripened human skill, in this kind of carriage, to a
decree of perfection which merits the adoption of the mother
country, but which will be better explained under the next
head of this subject.

[Illustration: Carrying tobacco to market.]

"The hogsheads, which are designed to