bout $330 at the largest.

WAREHOUSES 1730-1800

In most instances the warehouses were private property, but they were
always subject to the control of the legislature. Regulations regarding
the location, erection, maintenance and operation as official places of
inspection were set forth by special legislation. Owners of the land
sites selected were ordered to build the warehouses and rent them to
the inspectors. If the land owner refused to build, then the court
could order the warehouse built at public expense. Just how many
warehouses were built at public expense is difficult to determine,
probably only a few, if any, were built in this manner.

The rent which the proprietor received usually depended upon the number
of hogsheads inspected at his warehouse, though the rates were
regulated by the General Assembly. In 1712 the proprietors received
twelve pence for the first day or the first three months and six pence
every month thereafter per hogshead. In 1755 the owners received eight
pence per hogshead. During the Revolution the rate was raised to four
shillings, but was lowered to one shilling six pence after the
cessation of hostilities. At the beginning of the nineteenth century
rent per hogshead, including a year's storage, was twenty-five cents.

To keep pace with the movement of the tobacco industry, new warehouses
were built and others discontinued from time to time. And by observing
the warehouse movement it is possible to grasp a general picture of the
decline of the tobacco industry in Tidewater Virginia. The expansion of
the industry into Piedmont is more difficult to follow during this
period owing to the fact that inspection houses were not permitted
above the Falls until after the Revolution.

In 1730 seventy-two warehouses located in thirty counties were ordered
erected and maintained for the purpose of inspection and storage by the
General Assembly. Twelve years later warehouses were erected in only
one additional county, Fairfax. A few of those established in 1730 were
discontinued, but twenty-six new ones had been erected by 1742, making
a total of ninety-three in operation at that time. From 1742 to 1765
the total number of inspection houses increased by about six, but this
does not reveal a complete picture of the warehouse movement. A closer
examination shows a much greater shift in the movement. Sixteen new
inspection warehouses were erected during this period, twelve of them
near the Fal