re.[4-25]

It may be taken for granted, however, that this estimate was far below
the actual price. The planters showed a decided tendency to blow hot or
cold according to the purpose in view, and in these two particular
statements Sir John was pleading for better treatment from the
merchants. Yet it is reasonably certain that tobacco was at a low ebb in
the years from 1629 to 1633, and sold at a small fraction of the figures
of the preceding decade.[4-26] The Governor repeatedly wrote asking for
relief, while in the Assembly attempts were made to restore the market
by restricting the size of the annual crop.[4-27]

Yet things must have taken a favorable turn soon after, for in 1634 the
planters informed the King's Commissioners that they would not sell him
their tobacco at less than six pence in Virginia and fourteen pence
delivered in England.[4-28] Later the King wrote to the Governor and
Council that the rate had recently "doubly or trebly advanced."[4-29]
This is substantiated by the fact that the Commissioners, in 1638,
allowed the planters "4d. a pound clear of all charges," despite which
they complained that in an open market they could do better.[4-30]

In 1638 several prominent Virginians estimated that on an average during
the preceding eleven years they had received not more than two pence for
their tobacco, but here again it is probable that there was some
exaggeration.[4-31] In 1649 the author of _A New Description of
Virginia_ stated that tobacco sold in Virginia for three pence a
pound.[4-32] All in all it seems that prices in the early years of the
settlement varied from five shillings to a few pence, that a disastrous
slump occurred at the end of the third decade, followed by a rapid
recovery which brought the rate to about three pence, at which figure it
remained fairly constant for twenty-five years or more throughout the
Civil War and most of the Commonwealth periods.

The return which the Virginia farmer received from his one staple crop
was determined by a number of factors over which he himself had but
little control. Had he been permitted to seek his own market and drive
his own bargain free from the restraining hand of the British
Government, no doubt he would have secured a much better price. But from
the moment it became apparent that the Virginia tobacco rivalled in
flavor that of the Spanish colonies and could command as ready a sale
throughout Europe, the trade was subjected to various