o ship his products from his own wharf,
and, secondly, the culture of tobacco, which scattered the people in a
continual search for new and richer lands. This rural life, while it
hindered co-operation, promoted a spirit of independence among the
whites of all classes which counter-acted the aristocratic form of
government."[153]

Channing, writing of conditions in 1800, the close of this period, says:
"The great Virginia plantations were practically self-sustaining, so far
as the actual necessaries of life were concerned; the slaves had to be
clothed and fed whether tobacco and wheat could be sold or not, but they
produced, with the exception of the raw material for making their
garments, practically all that was essential to their well being. The
money which the Virginia planters received for their staple products was
used to purchase articles of luxury--wine for the men, articles of
apparel for the women, furnishings for the house, and things of that
kind, and to pay the interest on the load of indebtedness which the
Virginia aristocracy owed at home and broad."[154]

Again, the same historian says: "The plenty of everything made
hospitality universal, and the wealth of the country was greatly
promoted by the opening of the forests. Indeed, so contented were the
people with their new homes (1652) that ... 'seldom (if ever) any that
hath continued in Virginia any time will or do desire to live in
England, but post back with what expedition they can, although many are
landed men in England, and have good estates there, and divers ways of
preferments propounded to them, to entice and perswade their
continuants.'"[155]

Now, this comparative isolation of the plantation life made visiting and
neighborliness doubly grateful and, hospitality and the spirit of
kindness became almost proverbial in Virginia. As far back as 1656 John
Hammond of Virginia and Maryland noted this fact with no little pride in
his _Leah and Rachel_; for, said he, "If any fall sick and cannot
compasse to follow his crope, which if not followed, will soon be lost,
the adjoyning neighbors will either voluntarily or upon a request joyn
together, and work in it by spels, untill the honour recovers, and that
gratis, so that no man by sicknesse lose any part of his years worke....
Let any travell, it is without charge, and at every house is
entertainment as in a hostelry, and with it hearty welcome are strangers
entertained.... In a word, Virginia wants