ed laborers. This, however, was not very
common, for the opportunities for an independent existence were so
great that few would fail to grasp them. There could be no necessity
for laboring for others when land could be had so cheaply. Those that
did hire themselves out were tempted usually by the excessive wages
that could be obtained from wealthy planters. Throughout the 17th
century, the difficulty of obtaining a sufficient supply of servants
to keep in cultivation the tobacco fields of the colony, created a
lively demand for labor and made wages higher than in England. Even
in the early years of the century this state of affairs prevailed, and
we find planters complaining of the excessive cost of hired labor and
making urgent requests for indentured servants.[195] Despite the high
price of tobacco that prevailed before 1660, it was the general
opinion that no profit could be made from it when hired laborers were
used in its cultivation, and it is probable that they were never
employed except when the supply of servants fell far short of the
demand. In the 18th century, when the importation of many thousands of
slaves had lowered the price of labor in the colony, the employment of
hired hands became still less frequent.

The existence of high wages for so many years accelerated the
formation of the middle class, for the hired laborer could, if he were
economical, save enough to purchase land and to become an independent
farmer. So crude were the agricultural methods then in use in the
colony that very little capital was needed by the small planters, and
tobacco and corn could be raised by them almost as economically as
upon the large plantations. Moreover, since men of the middle class
could seldom afford to employ laborers to till their fields, they were
in a sense brought into competition with the wage earner. The price of
tobacco was dependent in large measure upon the cost of production,
and could not, except upon exceptional occasions, fall so low that
there could be no profit in bringing servants from England to
cultivate it, and this fact reacted favorably upon those that tilled
their fields with their own hands. On the other hand this very
circumstance made it hard for the small farmer to enlarge the scope of
his activities. Unless he had obtained a fair degree of prosperity, it
would be impossible for him to purchase servants or hire laborers and
the output of his plantation was limited to his own exertions,